NYC RxStat: Stakeholder Reflections on the First Decade of a National Model Public Health and Public Safety Partnership to Reduce Overdose Deaths

NYC RxStat, the United States' first public health/public safety partnership to reduce overdose deaths, began in 2012 and has established a national model for cross-sector partnerships. At its outset, NYC RxStat aimed to integrate data-driven policing — the CompStat model of metric-based accountability — with actionable public health interventions and surveillance. Jointly led by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, NYC RxStat leverages the capacities of state and federal authorities in addition to local government agencies to develop innovative, cross-sector overdose responses. Despite the innovation of NYC RxStat and proliferation of public health/public safety partnerships nationally in its template, no prior research has assessed cross-sector partnership implementation in any jurisdiction in the United States. To assess the first decade of NYC RxStat and inform national partnership replication efforts, presenters conducted a stakeholder evaluation of NYC RxStat. In-depth interviews with 25 current and former NYC RxStat stakeholders identified successes, challenges, and opportunities for growth.

Guided by the study findings, the presenters will share a series of 12 concrete strategies to improve the NYC RxStat partnership and other partnerships in its model, organized into three opportunity areas:
(1) Ensure stakeholder and agency accountability;
(2) Build secure and mutually beneficial data systems; and
(3) Structure partnerships to facilitate equitable collaboration.

As the first empirical study of any public health/public safety partnership in the United States, these findings can inform ongoing efforts to implement and scale cross-sector overdose response partnerships nationally.