title: Seeing 50% higher costs in depressed seniors, plan begins guideline to manage disorder.
abstract: Reduce the high cost of medical care for depressed seniors: Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound found that up to 18% of its Medicare risk patients were depressed and their medical costs were 50% higher than non-depressed patients. Here are the details on this innovative provider's depression clinical guidelines and how they're working.
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003863:Depression / Q000191:economics* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D006125:Group Practice, Prepaid / Q000191:economics*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards; D017010:Reminder Systems; D012648:Self Care; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014861:Washington