Practice patterns for the outpatient treatment of depression in a case-managed delivery system: A utilization study.

Abstract

Virginia Beach, VirginiaPaul MansheimValueOptions and Norfolk, VirginiaHave you ever wondered how long it takes the average outpatient provider to treat a patient with adepression-related diagnosis? This article provides baseline data by diagnostic categories for womentreated for depression. As a managed behavioral health care company, ValueOptions partnered with theVirginia Academy of Clinical Psychologists to study how providers use various treatment modalities.Furthermore, this study investigated average length of treatment by diagnostic category. The authorshope this information generates discussion regarding appropriate expectations for treatment and, thus,improves the quality of care.As managed behavioral health care becomes more prevalent,scrutiny of outpatient practice patterns will increase. To continueto successfully practice in this environment, professionals need tocompare their treatment patterns with industry norms. This articlepresents norms for depression diagnoses. This article uses datafrom a managed care contract in which both providers and patientswere highly satisfied. Ninety-five percent of providers indicatedKAREN M. LEDSKY, MBA, is a vice president of operations at ValueOp-tions, one of the nation's largest managed behavioral health care companiesserving more than 22 million people through publicly funded, federal, andcommercial contracts.E. VICAR REYNOLDS ffl, PHD, is the director of quality management forValueOptions' TRICARE Region 1 contract, which covers 800,000 activeduty and retired service members and their dependents.MICHAEL S. WEISSMAN, PHD, is the past president of the Virginia Academyof Clinical Psychologists and currently is in independent practice in Ports-mouth, VA.J. D. BALL, PHD, is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry andBehavioral Science at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, VA.MARC RABINOWITZ, LCSW, is in independent practice in Norfolk, VA.CHERYL COLLINS, BSN, MA, MBA, is an executive vice president ofoperations at ValueOptions.