Future complexity of care tier affected by depression outcomes.

Background: The inclusion of mental health issues in the evaluation of multimorbidity generally has been as the presence or absence of the condition rather than severity, complexity, or stage. The hypothesis for this study was that clinical outcome of the depression 6 months after enrollment into collaborative care management would have a role in predicting future complexity of care tier.

Methods: This study was a retrospective chart review of 1894 primary care patients who were diagnosed with major depressive disorder or dysthymia as of December 2012.