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Research Highlights
New depression-care model yields big gains for little money
December 1, 2005
An innovative model of depression care for older adults yields better outcomes without substantially raising costs, suggests a new analysis of a large study that had involved VA and seven other health systems. The model features specially trained nurses, social workers or psychologists who support the efforts of primary-care doctors and consulting psychiatrists. The new cost-benefit study shows that the model, known as IMPACT-"Improving Mood: Promoting Access to Collaborative Treatment"-enables patients to experience significant benefits at an additional outpatient cost to their healthcare providers of only about $148 per year. In 2003, the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health cited the IMPACT model as a potentially life-saving approach that should be widely used in primary-care settings and reimbursed by public and private insurers.
Katon WJ, Schoenbaum M, Fan MY, Callahan CM, Williams J Jr, Hunkeler E, Harpole L, Zhou XH, Langston C, Unutzer J. Cost-effectiveness of Improving Primary Care Treatment of Late-Life Depression.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005 Dec;62(12):1313-20.
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