Voyatek Celebrates the Continued Growth of Data Sharing Platform Helping Virginia Respond to the Opioid Epidemic and COVID-19

RESTON, Va.– September 23, 2021 — Voyatek an award-winning data analytics and business intelligence firm, celebrates the continued growth of Virginia’s first cross-agency, cloud-based, data sharing and analytics platform, the Framework for Addiction Analysis and Community Transformation (FAACT). The FAACT platform continues to help inform the Commonwealth’s response to the opioid epidemic and COVID-19 pandemic.

First launched by the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) with support from and championed by the Commonwealth’s Chief Data Officer, Carlos Rivero, FAACT now:

• Covers Virginia’s 8.6 million citizens
• Included more than 20 agencies sharing data
• Includes more than 65 unique datasets (including 25 million police incidents, 55 million mental health encounters and 600,000 hospital admissions)
• Includes more than 1,200 unique data elements
• Has tracked more than 2,000 unique substances
• Includes more than 20 years of data

“We are thrilled to see the continued growth of the FAACT platform, which has strengthened the ability of the Commonwealth’s government agencies and local health partners to work together to protect the health and safety of Virginians,” said Chief Growth Officer of Voyatek Jake Bittner. “This is a prime example of government funding used efficiently and effectively to drive real, positive, and life-changing impacts in our communities.”

Launched in 2018, FAACT is a single platform that combines previously siloed data from a growing number of state and local organizations to generate actionable insights about the contributing factors of opioid use and the most effective ways for communities to respond. In June 2020, Virginia expanded the platform to collect new data sets to inform response and recovery efforts for COVID-19. This effort helped to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and to maintain an adequate supply of resources.

“COVID-19 and the ongoing opioid epidemic combined to form a single crisis – the ‘twindemic’ – that hurt our communities and challenged health and safety professionals looking to improve the quality of life for patients needing addiction support,” said Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian J. Moran. “FAACT and its ever-expanding data sets provided criminal justice entities, health and human resources, and social services agencies with the information needed to respond to and prevent addiction relapse during the pandemic.”

“Secure and appropriate data sharing paves the way for government agencies to deliver better outcomes for our constituents,” said Rivero. “FAACT is a prime example of data sharing and analytics done well with the outcomes to prove it. We are honored to continue this work as we expand the platform across Virginia exploring multiple use cases including the COVID-19 response and most recently, vaccine administration.”

“We are proud that the FAACT infrastructure we worked to launch just three years ago continues to grow its footprint, and along with it the positive impacts it has on our communities,” said Director of DCJS Shannon Dion. “From delivering insights that are critical to substance use prevention, early intervention, treatment, and recovery, to saving lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, Virginia is more prepared to protect its constituents because of this data-sharing and analytics platform.”

“Just as the advanced data analytics and pre-built visualizations available in FAACT allowed Virginia to make quick and informed decisions on how to address the growing opioid crisis in a more proactive manner, the same benefits held true when we quickly expanded FAACT to respond to COVID-19,” said Vice President, Analytics Service Line of Voyatek Adam Roy. “FAACT is a repeatable framework that leaves Virginia uniquely prepared to respond to any future public health crisis.”

To learn more about FAACT, visit here: https://www.cdo.virginia.gov/faact/