Enhancements to OpiRescue app gives Colorado first responders real-time tracking for opioid overdose encounters

Denver-based RxAssurance just teamed up with the Colorado Attorney General’s Office to offer an app-based tracking mechanism for first responders or laypersons who administer Naloxone for an opioid overdose.

The app is one component of the Colorado Naloxone for Life initiative spearheaded by Attorney General Cynthia H. Hoffman to address the opioid epidemic in Colorado by providing training and access to Naloxone for first responders.

The free, award-winning app OpiRescue was created in 2015 to help combat the rise in opioid-related overdose deaths. Originally released as an instructional guide to reverse opioid overdoes for family and friends of those who are on opioid medication, or who may have become addicted to opioids.

At the request of the Attorney General’s Office, OpiRescue has been expanded to now offer first responders (and the general public, anonymously) a way to report opioid overdose reversals. First responders in Colorado can include their agency and ID and get a report emailed to them for their files. The app tracks opioid overdose reversals to the nearest cross-streets, compiling valuable data for outcome tracking.

Overdose is common among people who use illicit opioids such as heroin, and among those who misuse medications prescribed for pain, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone and morphine.

OpiRescue is available for download at www.opirescue.com at no cost for iPhone and Android. In addition to tracking and reporting, it offers information about signs and symptoms of overdose, instructions to administer Naloxone and Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) resources and is available in English and Spanish. In 2015, the app won the top prize in SAMHSA‘s Opioid Overdose Prevention Challenge.

RxAssurance, the creators of OpiRescue also created a solution, OpiSafe, to help care providers better manage opioid prescribing and monitoring. OpiSafe performs risk stratification for each patient on the basis of Morphine Equivalent dosing ranges, Pain and Function scores, Opioid Misuse Risk scores and automated.

“We are thrilled to partner with the Attorney General’s Office to give first responders an app based guide for properly administering Naloxone to victims of opioid related overdoses which includes a mechanism for tracking opioid overdose reversals over time,” said Bob Goodman, CEO of RxAssurance.

“The rich, real-time data provided by these reports will help the state make further gains in combatting the opioid epidemic. We created RxAssurance to offer a family of solutions to help physicians, emergency response agencies, patients, and their family members and loved ones have a safer experience when using opioid medications.”