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State advisory committee reviews opioid needs assessment, readies statewide survey
Summary
At its March 5 meeting the Advisory Committee for a Resilient Nevada heard a presentation on the statewide opioid needs assessment that will combine secondary indicators with more primary data, and staff asked members for feedback on a draft statewide survey before launch.
The Advisory Committee for a Resilient Nevada heard a presentation March 5 on a new four‑year statewide opioid needs assessment designed to guide Nevada’s 2027–2030 plan. Heather Kerwin, who said she is working with Dawn and her team to complete the next iteration of the assessment and plan, told the committee the team will pair traditional secondary indicators — hospitalizations and overdose counts — with substantially more primary data gathered from residents.
Kerwin said the team has conducted roughly 160 key‑informant interviews and about 65 interviews with people with lived or living experience, and that the resulting plan is intended to be completed by the end of 2026 for use beginning in 2027. “We are going to be collecting a lot more of what we call primary data,” she said, noting that focus groups, key informant interviews and a statewide survey are central to that work.
The draft statewide survey — which will be open to Nevada residents 18 and older — will be circulated to the committee for comment before launch. Committee members were asked to provide feedback within about a week so staff can revise the instrument and then leave it open for about six weeks once live. “We’ll clear and wipe all that data before we launch it,” Kerwin said, encouraging members to try the draft and return feedback.
Committee members raised recruitment and sampling concerns. Danita Smith of the Adelson Clinic offered to connect the assessment team with opioid treatment programs for interviews and focus groups. Kerwin welcomed the assistance, saying some outreach may be virtual and some in person depending on county capacity.
The assessment team warned about fraudulent online responses and advised against posting survey links on public‑facing websites or social media. Kerwin said automated signups by bot accounts have been a growing problem for primary research since 2021 and recommended distributing the survey through targeted, controlled channels and paper QR codes where appropriate.
The committee did not take a formal vote on the needs‑assessment approach at this meeting. Kerwin said staff will share the draft survey and the planned timeline for analyzing primary and secondary data and will return with findings for the committee’s review.
