eHealth Solutions for Healthcare Disparities

Michael Christopher Gibbons is Associate Director of the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute and Assistant Professor of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He was recently elected President of the International Society for Urban Health. One of Gibbons's research interests is the development of effective health interventions to reduce health disparities. He is the founding director of the Center for Community Health Education, Advocacy and Leadership Training at Hopkins (HEALTH), is a member of the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, and was named a Health Disparities Scholar by the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health.

From the reviews: "This book addresses two important subjects in healthcare: health disparities and electronic technologies. ... The intended audience includes public health professionals, healthcare administrators, informaticians, and graduate students. ... it appears to me the audience is primarily researchers in the field of health disparities and electronic health technologies. ... This book provides a valuable literature review of health disparities in the U.S. and of the role of the Internet and other electronic technologies in healthcare." (Florin Oprescu, Doody's Review Service, February, 2008) "The book is organized into 4 sections. ... This book may potentially assist policy makers in promoting new policy direction. ... This book seems suited for graduate students who will question, challenge, and expand on the formulated concepts and solutions. ... It also may offer legislators and scholars of healthy policy 'fresh' thoughts on the direction that may assist in closing the gap of health disparities." (Stanley W. Borg, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 299 (8), 2008) "In [this book the editor] sets out to marry the "unlikely bedfellows" of the sociobehavioral scientist, knowledgeable about healthcare disparities and the health information technologist. This thoroughly referenced primer accomplishes this task and more. Although written with public health professionals, policy makers and academicians in mind, this book also offers great value to the practicing physician." (Dina D. Strachan, MD, Journal of the National Medical Association, Vol. 100 (10), 2008)

• Section I.- An Overview of Healthcare Disparities.- Provider Factors in Healthcare Disparities.- Patient Factors in Healthcare Disparities.- Healthcare System Factors in Healthcare Disparities.- The Social “Nonmedical” Determinants of Health.- Section II.- The Role of the Internet in American Life.- The iHealth Revolution.- Digital Disparities.- Section III.- The Role of eHealth in Patient Engagement and Quality Improvement.- Medical Informatics.- Public Health Informatics.- Section IV.- Beyond Traditional Paradigms in Disparities Research.- Health Information Technology Policy Perspectives and Healthcare Disparities.- Disparities and eHealth: Achieving the Promise and the Potential.