In: Kaplan, B. Legal Matters: The Legal Context of Health Informatics in Global Pandemics, Context Sensitive Health Informatics: The Role of Informatics in Global Pandemics, eds. R Marcilly, L Dusseljee-Peute, CE Kuziemsky, X Zhu, P Elkin, Am- sterdam: IOS Press, 2021,11-15. doi:10.3233/SHTI210627
In: Kaplan, B., "Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues Pertaining to Virtual and Digital Representations of Patients," Personal Health Informatics: Patient Participation in Precision Health, eds. Pei-Yun Sabrina Hsueh, Thomas Wetter, Xinxin Zhu, Cham: Springer (Forthcoming).
In: Kaplan, B. (with appendix by Monteiro, A.P.L.), "PHI Protection under HIPAA: An Overall Analysis," LGPD na Saúde (LGPD Applicable to Health), Dallari, A. B., Monaco, G.F.C., ed., São Paulo: Editora Revista dos Tribunais (Thomsom Reuters), 2021, pp. 61-88. Available at http://ssrn.com/author=2307861
In: Yale University Institute for Social and Policy Studies Working Paper 14-028; The Challenges of The Digital Era: Privacy, Information and More, ed. S. Yanisky-Ravid, New York: Fordham University Press, (forthcoming, 2017), chapter accepted, but book never published
In: Wetter, T., van Vorhees, B., Kaplan, B., DeMuro, P.R., Waldo, A.B., "Ethical, Legal, and Public Policy Barriers to Unleashing the Full Power of Consumer Health Informatics for Care Delivery," American Medical Informatics Association Annual Symposium, Washington, DC, November 2013, available at http:
New system design and evaluation methodologies are being developed to address social, organizational, political, and other non-technological issues in medical informatics. This paper describes a social interactionist framework for researching these kinds of organizational issues, based on research within medical informatics and other disciplines over the past 20 years. It discusses how effective evaluation strategies may be undertaken to address organizational issues concerning computer information systems in medicine and health care. The paper begins with a theoretical framework for evaluation. It then describes the 4Cs of evaluation: communication, care, control, and context. Five methodological guidelines are given for conducting comprehensive evaluations that address these 4Cs. An example of an evaluation research design that fits the guidelines and was used in an evaluation of an on-line clinical imaging system is discussed. Results of the evaluation study illustrate how this approach addresses organizational concerns and the 4Cs.
This article traces past trends and current developments in medical computing in the United States. It suggests a link between shifts in emphases in medical computing and in federal government policy toward health care delivery. The development of medical computing was not driven solely by the internal imperatives of science and technology, but by dreams and visions of how computers could revolutionize medicine. Such dreams and visions constitute a mythical charter similar to ideologies and rhetoric used to mobilize support by other computerization movements. This mythical charter influenced development of medical computing by tying computing in medicine to policy goals. This charter also affected historical accounts in medical computing, which are characterized by technological determinism and evidence of cognitive dissonance due to failure to achieve policy goals.
In: in Everyday Technologies in Healthcare, eds. C.M. Hayre, D.J. Muller, and M.J. Scherer, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, pp. 31-52, 2019 and University of Groningen Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 2/2020
In: Novak LL, Kuziemsky C, Kaplan B, Samantha Adams Festschrift: Sam Adams and the Social Construction of Technology and Health-Implications for Biomedical Informatics, Appl Clin Inform. 2018 Jul;9(3):496-499. doi: 10.1055/s-0038-1656524. Epub 2018 Jul 3.
Background: Mood disorders are associated with a high risk of suicide. Statin therapy has been implicated in this relationship. Aims: To further clarify reported associations between suicide and cholesterol in mental health conditions, we conducted an analysis of dietary, clinical, and suicidal ideation measures in community-living adults with mood disorders. Method: Data were used from a cross-sectional study of a randomly selected community-based sample (> 18 years; n = 97) with verified mood disorders. Dietary (e.g., fat, iron, vitamin intakes), clinical (e.g., current depression and mania symptoms, medications), and sociodemographic (age, sex, and income) measures were analyzed using bivariate statistics and Poisson regression with robust variance. Results: Participants were predominantly female (71.1%) with bipolar disorder (59.8%); almost one-third (28.9%) were taking lipophilic statins. The prevalence of suicidal ideation was more than 2.5 times in those taking statins, PR = 2.59, 95% CI 1.27–5.31, p < .05. The prevalence ratio for suicidal ideation was 1.10, 95% CI 1.06–1.15, p < .001, for each unit increase in mania symptom scores. No associations between suicidal ideation and dietary intake measures were identified. Conclusion: Individuals with mood disorders may be susceptible to neuropsychiatric effects of cholesterol-lowering drugs, which warrants further research.
BackgroundHealthcare costs are skyrocketing, with mental health treatment amongst the most expensive, especially when hospitalization is involved. According to the Mental Health Commission of Canada, one in five Canadians is living with a mental disorder in any given year, at an annual cost of $50 billion. In light of this societal burden, alternative approaches are being evaluated, such as brief psychotherapy by phone, peer support, and, as part of the emerging field of nutritional mental health, treatment with micronutrients (minerals and vitamins). Effectiveness of micronutrients has been demonstrated for many types of psychiatric symptoms, in about 45 studies of formulas that are either multinutrient (e.g., several B vitamins) or broad-spectrum (usually over 20 minerals and vitamins). Although this literature demonstrates therapeutic benefits, the potential economic impact of micronutrient treatment has been evaluated in only one case study of childhood psychosis.MethodsThe current case study was initiated to evaluate mental health-related hospitalization costs from 1997 to 2003 for a female adult diagnosed with various mood and psychotic symptoms. She was treated for the first 5 years with conventional methods and then subsequently with a broad-spectrum micronutrient formula.ResultsThe patient's annual mental health hospitalization costs during conventional treatment averaged $59,864 across 5 years (1997-2001), with a peak annual cost of about $140,000. Since transitioning to broad-spectrum micronutrients, she has incurred no provincial hospitalization costs for mental health care, though her self-funded costs are currently $720/year for the micronutrients.ConclusionFurther exploration of the treatment of mental health problems with broad-spectrum micronutrient formulas has the potential to make two significant contributions: improved mental health, and decreased costs for governments.