Robert H. Aseltine Jr., PhD, a professor and interim chair of the division of behavioral sciences and community health at Farmington, Conn.-based UConn Health, is leading a research team to identify patients at risk of suicide using data from the state's health information exchange, the Shoreline Times reports.
Here are four things to know about the project.
1. For the study, Dr. Aseltine's team will analyze data from Connecticut's HIE, CTHealthLink, which launched in late 2017. The HIE gathers information from patients' visits to physicians, psychotherapists and emergency departments, among other healthcare facilities, in the state.
2. The centralized database will provide researchers with information about those who have attempted suicide in the state. Using this information, the researchers will create an algorithm to predict a patient's risk of suicide based on select factors, such as unemployment or drug use.
3. Once the algorithm identifies a patient as at risk of suicide, the researchers will make relevant information available to the patient's physician — if that physician has enrolled in the research program — to flag the patient for appropriate treatment or referral to a provider specialized in depression or suicide prevention.
"We're not going to say that patient is at risk," Matthew Katz, executive vice president and CEO of the Connecticut State Medical Society, which sponsors CTHealthLink, told the Shoreline Times. "What we're going to say is, you need to ask questions, you need to do some identifications to assess whether that patient is at risk."
4. The study is supported by a $1.9 million, three-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.