Universal Depression Screening Initiative Re-Launch

Universal Depression Screening Initiative Re-Launch

July 21st, 2020 | Clinical Connections

The AHP Behavioral Health Integration team is pleased to announce the relaunching of the Universal Depression Screen and Follow up initiative. As most patients with depression receive their care mostly or solely at their PCPs’ office, it becomes important to address this unmet need. This is also an important PCMH quality measure as well as a collaborative measure on the Excellus contract for AHP. Each patient 12 years and over is expected to be screened for depression using the PHQ2/9 at least once yearly. This quality measure is built into Arcadia, and the Optimization Team will collect data on the total number of screens, negative screens and those positive screens with appropriate follow up. Further information on the quality measure can be found here.

Remember: the Depression Screening Toolkit is a robust online resource designed specifically to support provider performance for this measure. The toolkit provides evidence-based tools and medication strategies for the management of depression, as well as resources to guide early interventions in the primary care setting.

We look forward to introducing this initiative again and answer any questions you have as we schedule visits to meet with you and your practice in the near future.  For further information please contact George Nasra, MD.