The scientific reinvention of forensic science.

Forensic science is undergoing an evolution in which a long-standing "trust the examiner" focus is being replaced by a "trust the scientific method" focus. This shift, which is in progress and still partial, is critical to ensure that the legal system uses forensic information in an accurate and valid way. In this Perspective, we discuss the ways in which the move to a more empirically grounded scientific culture for the forensic sciences impacts testing, error rate analyses, procedural safeguards, and the reporting of forensic results.

Improving Consumer Understanding of Short-Term Health Insurance: An Experiment.

Short-term health insurance policies-made available with longer durations during the Trump Administration-offer substantially fewer consumer protections than do Affordable Care Act ("ACA")-compliant policies. Federal regulations require short-term policies' sellers to disclose possible ACA noncompliance to prospective buyers. This controlled experiment finds, however, that the federally required disclosure does not substantially improve consumer understanding of these policies' coverage limitations.

Perceptions and Concerns of SUD Treatment Organizations Regarding the CARES Act's Alterations to Patient Confidentiality Regulations.

Objectives: Learn how substance use disorder (SUD) treatment organizations view and respond to changes in confidentiality and disclosure law following adoption of CARES Act Sec. 3221 and prior to promulgation of revised implementing regulations.

Methods: Online survey followed by informal interviews.

Reply to Response to Vacuous standards - Subversion of the OSAC standards-development process.

This Letter to the Editor is a reply to Mohammed et al. (2021) https://doi.org/10.

Recommendations to Inform Substance Use Disorder Data Sharing Research: Scoping Review and Thematic Analysis.

Objectives: Title 42 Code of Federal Regulations Part 2 (42 CFR Part 2 or Part 2) was enacted in 1975 to protect patients receiving treatment for substance use disorders. A scoping review on Part 2 characterized published work.

Methods: Seven databases were searched.

Psychological Assessments in Legal Contexts: Are Courts Keeping "Junk Science" Out of the Courtroom?

In this article, we report the results of a two-part investigation of psychological assessments by psychologists in legal contexts. The first part involves a systematic review of the 364 psychological assessment tools psychologists report having used in legal cases across 22 surveys of experienced forensic mental health practitioners, focusing on legal standards and scientific and psychometric theory. The second part is a legal analysis of admissibility challenges with regard to psychological assessments.

Mental health professional perspectives on health data sharing: Mixed methods study.

This study explores behavioral health professionals' perceptions of granular data. Semi-structured in-person interviews of 20 health professionals were conducted at two different sites. Qualitative and quantitative analysis was performed.

Mental health professionals' perceptions on patients control of data sharing.

Integrated mental and physical care environments require data sharing, but little is known about health professionals' perceptions of patient-controlled health data sharing. We describe mental health professionals' views on patient-controlled data sharing using semi-structured interviews and a mixed-method analysis with thematic coding. Health information rights, specifically those of patients and health care professionals, emerged as a key theme.

Design and Pilot Testing of an English and Spanish Behavioral Health Patient Survey on Data Privacy.

We piloted a Spanish and English survey on data privacy. Thirty-one Latino behavioral health patients completed the survey in person with a preference for paper (78%) over electronic questionnaire. Dialect variations across Latino countries and the lack of tools to assess reading level in Spanish affected comprehension.

Perceptions and Preferences About Granular Data Sharing and Privacy of Behavioral Health Patients.

Little is known about data sharing preferences for care and research of behavioral health patients. Eighty-six behavioral health patients (n = 37 Latinos; n = 32 with serious mental illness) completed questionnaires, in either English or Spanish, with items assessing their views on privacy and sensitivity of health record information. Most patients (82.

GRANULAR PATIENT CONTROL OF PERSONAL HEALTH INFORMATION: FEDERAL AND STATE LAW CONSIDERATIONS.

The advent of electronic medical records and health information exchanges has facilitated the possibility of patients exercising increasingly granular control over sensitive health information. In principle, patients should be able to control which of their health information is made accessible to which of their healthcare providers. To meet this goal, the architects of any system of granular control of patients' health information face a variety of challenges.

Current State of Electronic Consent Processes in Behavioral Health: Outcomes from an Observational Study.

An integral element of value-based care is care team access to both physical and behavioral health data. Data release processes in both environments are governed by federal and state statutes. The requirements for obtaining consent are complex and often confusing.

Forensic bitemark identification: weak foundations, exaggerated claims.

Several forensic sciences, especially of the pattern-matching kind, are increasingly seen to lack the scientific foundation needed to justify continuing admission as trial evidence. Indeed, several have been abolished in the recent past. A likely next candidate for elimination is bitemark identification.

Regulatory and reimbursement innovation.

Coverage with evidence development and parallel review for molecular diagnostics aid regulation and reimbursement.

Neuroimages in court: less biasing than feared.

Neuroscience is increasingly poised to play a role in legal proceedings. One persistent concern, however, is the intuition that brain images may bias, mislead, or confuse jurors. Initially, empirical research seemed to support this intuition.

Neuroimage evidence and the insanity defense.

The introduction of neuroscientific evidence in criminal trials has given rise to fears that neuroimagery presented by an expert witness might inordinately influence jurors' evaluations of the defendant. In this experiment, a diverse sample of 1,170 community members from throughout the U.S.

Forensic identification: From a faith-based "Science" to a scientific science.

This article reviews the fundamental assumptions of forensic identification ("individualization") science and notes the lack of empirical evidence or theory supporting its typical strong claims. The article then discusses three general research strategies for placing these fields on firmer scientific ground. It concludes by suggesting what forensic identification science experts can do while awaiting that scientific foundation.

The testimony of forensic identification science: what expert witnesses say and what factfinders hear.

This research examined how variations in the presentation of forensic science information affect factfinders' judgments in a trial. Participants read a summary of a murder case, the critical testimony being the results of a microscopic hair comparison given by a forensic expert. Across two experiments we manipulated how the expert expressed his results, whether he gave an explicit conclusion concerning identity of the hair, and whether the limitations of forensic science were expressed during trial.