Integrating Depression Care: The Time Has Come

Health reform and the Affordable Care Act: The importance of mental health treatment to achieving the triple aim

“…These new models emphasized population-based care principles (i.e., taking care of all patients with specific mental conditions), measurement-based care so that there were metrics to follow to determine if the program was successful, and stepped care which permitted increasing intensity of care for patients with persistent symptoms [38]. The first study testing a new model of integrated mental health care, termed the “collaborative depression care model” was published in 1995 [39].…”

“…A 2013 meta-analysis of 78 randomized trials of collaborative versus usual care concluded that collaborative care improved quality of depression and anxiety care, as well as outcomes of depressive and anxiety disorders, for up to 2 years at either no greater costs, or in some populations, cost savings [40]. Collaborative care has become a robust example of a strategy to achieve the “triple aim” of improving health care experiences and clinical outcomes while reducing wasteful or unnecessary medical costs [38,40]. …”