Evaluating Depression Care Management in a Community Setting: Main Outcomes for a Medicaid HMO Population with Multiple Medical and Psychiatric Comorbidities.

The authors describe the implementation of a depression care management (DCM) program at Colorado Access, a public sector health plan, and describe the program's clinical and system outcomes for members with chronic medical conditions. High medical risk, high cost Medicaid health plan members were identified and systematically screened for depression. A total of 370 members enrolled in the DCM program.

Colorado access' enhanced care management for high-cost, high-need Medicaid members: preliminary outcomes and lessons learned.

Colorado Access, a nonprofit health plan, collaborated with the Center for Health Care Strategies and the State of Colorado Department of Health Care Policy Financing, to develop, implement, and evaluate a care management services pilot program focused on improving the quality of care and decreasing the cost of care for the highest cost, highest need Medicaid recipients. Colorado Access' preliminary internal evaluation demonstrated decreases in hospitalizations and emergency department utilization and increases in primary care ambulatory visits and member satisfaction. Qualitative analyses informed program implementation.

Realigning clinical and economic incentives to support depression management within a medicaid population: the Colorado access experience.

The authors describe their experiences in developing an economically sustainable depression care management program within Colorado Access, a non-profit Medicaid health plan. They describe high rates of mental health issues, medical comorbidities, and psychosocial barriers to care within the plan's Medicaid population. They discuss how the company redirected resources to incorporate depression care management into an intensive care management program focused on high-cost members with multiple chronic medical conditions.

The role of clinical information technology in depression care management.

We examine the literature on the growing application of clinical information technology in managing depression care and highlight lessons learned from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's national program "Depression in Primary Care-Incentives Demonstrations." Several program sites are implementing depression care registries. Key issues discussed about implementing registries include using a simple yet functional format, designing registries to track multiple conditions versus depression alone (i.