Community Dashboard
Explore our interactive community dashboard reporting on data and progress related to the opioid epidemic.
ANNUAL CASES OF
MISUSE & ABUSE
ANNUAL OPIOID
OVERDOSE DEATHS
ECONOMIC BURDEN
ON OUR COMMUNITY
ALL ANNUAL DATA FROM 2016 YEAR
Misuse, Abuse & Deaths
11.5% of Lorain County residents reported prescription opioid misuse or abuse in the past year, 2.5 times the national average and similar to the rate for the state of Ohio.
0.5% reported heroin use in the past year, double the national average.
Opioid use contributed to 2,691 annual emergency department visits in Lorain County.
Opioid overdose caused 132 deaths in Lorain County in 2016. This number is expected to increase in 2017 and again in 2018.
2.5x
12% of Lorain County residents report misuse/abuse of opioids, 2.5X the national average.
2691
Number of emergency room visits due to opioid misuse or abuse annually in Lorain County.
Economic Burden
The annual economic burden of the opioid crisis in Lorain County reached nearly $200 million in 2016. The most significant economic impacts are lost wages, productivity, and tax revenues due to opioid-related fatalities and opioid use disorders; increased healthcare costs resulting from overdoses and indirect health complications; and additional criminal justice (police, judicial, and corrections) expenditures.
Lost Earnings and Productivity, in Millions USD
| Event | Individual & Private Sector Losses | Lost Federal Tax Revenues | Lost State Tax Revenues | Lost Local Tax Revenues |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overdose Fatalities | $80.7M | $20.2M | $2.5M | $2.9M |
| Incarceration | $2.1M | $0.5M | $0.1M | $0.1M |
| Nonfatal Productivity | $23.4M | $5.9M | $0.7M | $0.8M |
| Total | $139.8M | $26.6M | $3.3M | $3.8M |
Increased Healthcare Costs, in Millions USD
| Cost | Private/Uninsured | Medicaid | Medicare |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overdose Costs | $2.9M | $11.7M | $3.8M |
| Indirect Costs | $3.9M | $15.6M | $5.8M |
| Total | $6.9M | $27.3M | $8.8M |
Increased Criminal Justice Costs, in Millions USD
| Category | Annual Cost |
|---|---|
| Police Protection | $2.7M |
| Judicial & Legal | $1.3M |
| Corrections & Incarceration | $2.9M |
| Property Losses | $0.3M |
| Total | $7.2M |
Notably, the estimate of spending on treatment and prevention when compared with the other components is extremely small (2.7 percent). This finding mirrors results from previous national-level studies, and emphasizes the potential cost savings that could be achieved by shifting expenditures from paying for the burden of opioid-related adverse events to prevention and treatment activities. Given the data availability and resources at the time of this work, the team is unfortunately not able to estimate the specific value of a new prevention or treatment intervention in Lorain County; however, the scale of the costs of the lost productivity and healthcare burdens provide evidence of the potential for cost-saving prevention/treatment activities. Alta rum believes exploration of this topic would be an extremely valuable area of further research.