Depression Disease Management Program
Depression is the most common behavioral health condition affecting the lives of millions of Americans. While highly effective treatments for depression are available, practitioners often report that treating depressed patients is difficult and sometimes frustrating. Often depressed patients tend not to comply with treatment regimen and stop taking their medications prematurely.
In an effort to improve care and adherence to treatment for members experiencing depression, HIP has created a depression management program. The goal of this program is to develop partnership with the treating clinician that improves both the process and the outcome of depression care.
The program serves members diagnosed with Major Depression Disorder who had either frequent ER visits (at least two in a year) or inpatient care. Eligible members are contacted and enrolled in the program by the program’s staff.
The depression management program provides the following:
- Education to members about depression and available treatments
- Information about adjunct services.
- Help in making appointments
- Coordination of care
- Monitoring of treatment adherence
- Monitoring of treatment progress using the Patient Health Questioniare-9 (PHQ-9).
- Progress reports to the referring practitioner.
The program is free and members can disenroll at anytime. The program’s hours of operation are 9:00am to 5:00pm during normal business days. After normal business hours, enrolled members have an access to an on call clinician.
If you would like more information or have ideas to enhance this program, please contact:
Dr. Israel Romano
1-646-447-7618
iromano@emblemhealth.com
Dr. Andrew Kolbasovsky
1-646-447-7231
akolbasovsky@emblemhealth.com
