Experts hope that a new Medicare benefit covering depression screenings will help reduce depression in older Americans.
As The Washington Post reports, in October, Medicare began covering annual depression screenings in primary-care settings with no cost sharing for beneficiaries. Experts believe that paying doctors to screen for depression could increase how often they do it.
“Doctors are trying to do the right thing, but how do you prioritize what to do in 21 minutes with a complex person?” Ken Duckworth, medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, told The Post. “If they get paid for it, they structure it into their practices.”
Currently, the reimbursement rate for each screening is $17.36 per patient and Medicare then covers 60 percent of the treatment for mental health problems, including depression. But, The Post story points out, “under a 2008 law, that figure is scheduled to rise to 80 percent in 2014.”
Data from 2007 from the National Comorbidity Survey of mental health disorders revealed that nearly 17 percent of people will have a major depressive disorder during their lifetime. But for people 60 and older, that percentage is 10.7 percent.
However, Michael Friedman, an adjunct associate professor at Columbia University’s schools of social work and public health, explains that “it’s the survivor factor. You’re more likely to die young if you have depression.”
Experts also say that “people are much more likely to suffer from chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, which can complicate diagnosis and treatment of both depression and other medical problems.”
A nationwide report about stress conducted by the American Psychological Association found that having a chronic disease is one of the biggest contributors to stress in our daily lives.
Heather Rudow is a staff writer for Counseling Today. Email her at hrudow@counseling.org.