 |
Frequently Asked Questions
As an employer, how do I know that I have employees with depression?
Why don't I "see" the employees with depression in my workforce?
- Most employees try to “disguise” their disease because
they are afraid their co-workers will devalue their contributions at
work if they admit they have a mental disorder. Some employees try
to hide their disease because they do not want anyone else to know
they are not ‘playing at the top of their game’.
Many healthcare professionals help employees hide their disease by
substituting a less stigmatizing diagnosis when they treat a patient
for depression.
One of the few markers employers have to monitor the prevalence of
depression in their workforce is antidepressant medication prescribing.
Even though this marker has increased dramatically over the last decade,
the most recent studies show that less than 50% of depressed employees
get any treatment for the condition, and more than 40% of depressed
employees who start antidepressant medication discontinue it before
they can realize any clinical benefit. Experts question whether increasing
antidepressant prescribing rates reflect the increased "off label" use
of antidepressants to treat conditions other than depression.
What is depression care management?
- Depression care management is often an employer-funded, and
always a confidential program that provides professional and
compassionate one-to-one outreach and ongoing support to employees
and eligible family members with depression. The program is clinically
proven to improve treatment outcomes, to help individuals feel
better about themselves, improve their quality of life at home
and in the workplace, and be more productive at both.
Don't the health plans our company subscribes to already provide depression care
management?
- Several health plans have initiated depression care management
programs in the past year. Most health plans do not
provide depression care management because it requires them to
restructure their service delivery systems to provide the type,
duration, and intensity of depression treatment needed to improve
clinical and work outcomes.
How do you know that depression care management will improve productivity
in my workforce?
- The highest level of scientific evidence emerges from testing
a new treatment in a randomized clinical trial (RCT) with a representative
population of patients. The research team tested depression care
management in an RCT with workers employed by over 100 companies
in 10 states across the country. The trial demonstrated that depression
care management significantly improved absenteeism and productivity
at work, with no differences across the occupational spectrum. Because
employees who participated in the trial had many different jobs,
the research team used self-report measures of these work outcomes
shown to have strong relationships with objective measures of absenteeism
and productivity.
What does depression care management cost?
- Vendors who provide depression care management currently employ
a wide range of strategies to price their product. The most expensive
and variable component of depression care management appears to
be the vendor costs associated with engaging employees in the program.
Since a vendor has to successfully engage employees to produce a
return on investment for the purchaser, employers should carefully
evaluate this component of the price.
Are all depression care management programs created 'equal'?
- Many vendors advertise their care management products as ‘evidence-based’ whether
or not their product delivers the critical components of the treatment shown
to improve outcomes. The critical components of depression care management
that a vendor must deliver to provide the treatment shown to provide return
on investment are listed in the Depression
Care Management Vendors Chart. The operations definitions of these critical
components are listed the Performance
Management Standards. Many employers find that a benefit consultant specialist
or regional coalitions like Colorado Business Group on Health can help evaluate
whether the care management product they are considering meets performance
management standards.
How can I measure whether I am getting a return on investment with depression care
management?
- The most effective way for a company to assure that it is receiving
a return on investment is to purchase a product that delivers all
critical components of depression care management at or above the
level of the
Performance Management Standards. The
company that purchases this product can insert data on the number
of employee participants and the cost per participant using the
Depression Calculator to estimate
its return on investment.
Another effective way for a company to estimate its return on investment
is to review the annual reports the vendor provides on program retention
and absenteeism/productivity change among participating employees
(see Performance Management Standards).
How do I find a vendor that will provide the type of depression
care management that will result in a return on investment?
- The vendors who provide depression care management products identified
from the literature are listed in the Depression
Care Management Vendors Chart. The website developers contacted
all vendors on the list to inquire whether they provided the critical
components of the treatment shown to provide return on investment.
Vendors who provide all components of evidence-based depression
care management are highlighted in yellow.
|
|
