In US primary care, helping patients with depression is a daily crisis. Approximately 15.7 million adults in the United States (7%) had at least 1 major depressive episode in the past year that caused functional impairment and contributed to lost productivity, costing an estimated $23 billion in 2013. Over the past decade, collaborative care has emerged as the new standard for depression treatment in primary care. Although collaborative care is a proven solution to this crisis, implementing it in any medical system exposes unexpected challenges.
In this paper, HIP Investigator Dr. Maureen Smith along with co-authors describe describe how they developed a serviceable framework for making implementation decisions during a collaborative care pilot. They conclude that using shared values as the primary decision-making tool streamlined collaborative care implementation and led to more confidence about making implementation decisions that bring collaborative care to patients who need accessible, affordable, and effective treatment for depression and anxiety.
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