Pennsylvania's Community Coordination Strategy to Reduce Opioid Overdose Deaths.

Objective: The Pennsylvania Opioid Overdose Reduction Technical Assistance Center (ORTAC) was developed to provide community-level support across Pennsylvania with the goal of reducing the opioid-related overdose death (ODD) rate via coalition building/coordination and tailored technical assistance. This study evaluates the initial effects of ORTAC engagement on county-level opioid ODD reductions.

Method: Using quasi-experimental difference-in-difference models, we compared ODD per 100,000 population per quarter between 2016 and 2019 in the 29 ORTAC-implementing counties against the 19 nonengaged counties while controlling for county-level time-varying confounders (e.