Health
Collaborative depression care reduces health care costs
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted March 3, 2008
Those older than 60 and depressed will incur lower health care costs over the long run if they have their mental illness treated by a physician as well as a depression care manager who provides education and support for continued medication use, according to a paper in the February American Journal of Managed Care.
Researchers randomized 1,801 seniors with depression, at eight sites from July 1999 to August 2001 to receive either usual treatment or collaborative care. Four years later, they analyzed data on 551 subjects from two of the locations. Those who received the intervention had average total health care costs in that time of $29,422. The other patients had a mean of $32,785 in expenditures.
"This research ... illustrates how important it is for health organizations to consider implementing evidence-based collaborative models of depression care," said Jürgen Unützer, MD, MPH, professor and vice chair of psychiatry at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/03/03/hlbf0303.htm.
