Depression Disease Management: Healthcare's New Frontier

Lost workdays, compromised productivity, accidents from lapses in judgment – whatever the symptom, depression poses a severe threat to industrial progress and financial stability. The tendency of depression to be coupled with other diseases results not only in heightened healthcare costs but also employee absenteeism, lost productivity and presenteeism while on the job. Depression management programs are aiming to address the multi-prong effects of depression through comprehensive care management. In this special report, "Depression Disease Management: Healthcare's New Frontier," based on a recent audio conference and two in-depth case studies on depression management programs, you'll hear about the broad array of depression disease management programs, ranging from differences in treatment length to pharmaceutical trials to staff roles and patient responsibility. You'll hear from Mary Beth Chalk, chief operating officer of Resources for Living, Dr. Elaine Mischler, chief medical officer at Wausau Benefits, Dr. Alex Rodriguez, chief medical officer, Magellan Health Services and Dr. Sam Toney, president and chief medical officer of Health Integrated, on disease management for depression, highlighting its merits, drawbacks and challenges. This report is based on the May 25, 2005 audio conference "Depression & Disease Management" during which Chalk and Toney described their depression management programs. This report also includes case studies of Wausau Benefits and Magellan Health Services depression programs. You'll get details on: * Depression’s effect on the workplace; * Identifying members for depression, including stratification levels; * Using communication tools as part of an integrated approach; * Measuring success through a statistical analysis; * Managing multiple chronic conditions; * Removing barriers to depression diagnosis