Communities are using overdose fatality reviews (OFRs) to improve and strengthen responses to the overdose epidemic through public safety and public health approaches. In practice, OFRs involve the analysis and review of aggregate data and a series of individual death reviews by a multidisciplinary team to effectively identify missed opportunities for prevention and intervention resulting in community specific overdose prevention and intervention recommendations.  

This webinar will detail roles and expectations of OFR staff and members, review an OFR meeting agenda, provide guidance on OFR data collections and plans for implementing identified recommendations. 

By the end of this session, participants should be able to: 

• Summarize the value of an OFR. 
• Identify essential OFR team members. 
• Describe the meeting structure and expectations. 
• Make use of resources and tools needed for a successful OFR. 

Meet Your Presenters 

• Lauren Savitskas is a senior research associate for IIR. With more than 8 years of experience with prevention and programming at the local, state, and national level. Her focus includes coordination of support to OFR teams, rural OFR initiatives, next-of-kin interviews, the OFR peer mentor program, and training new OFR sites. 
• Morgan Kramer is a senior research associate for IIR with 8 years of public health experience within overdose, child, and fetal and infant fatality reviews. Her focus includes coordination of support to OFR teams, prevention and intervention strategies, and the delivery of resources for states building infrastructure to support local OFR program efforts.