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.

Prevalence of psychiatric disorders and costs of care among adult enrollees in a Medicaid HMO.

Objective: Little is known about how psychiatric disorders affect health care costs in Medicaid programs. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders and costs of care for members of a Medicaid health maintenance organization (HMO) who had psychiatric disorders were examined.

Methods: A cross-sectional, observational analysis of adult Medicaid beneficiaries over a 12-month period was conducted by using data from a health plan that has both an HMO and a behavioral health carve-out.

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.