Epic Research: Only 5% of Overdose Patients Tested for Fentanyl, #1 Killer of Americans 18-45

Unfortunately, patients experiencing an overdose are rarely screened for fentanyl or other synthetic opioids when they visit emergency departments (ED). Most EDs complete limited toxicology testing on patients that present for an overdose, but those toxicology panels often don't include synthetic opioids, like fentanyl. Researchers from Epic and the University of Maryland's Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR) used deidentified Cosmos data to study patterns in toxicology screenings from more than 315,000 emergency department (ED) overdose visits across the U.S. that occurred between 2017 and August 2022. Patients are tested for fentanyl during just 5% of overdose-related ED visits.