title: Cost-effectiveness of a primary care depression intervention.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the incremental cost-effectiveness of a quality improvement depression intervention (enhanced care) in primary care settings relative to usual care.
  
  
  METHODS
  Following stratification, we randomized 12 primary care practices to enhanced or usual care conditions and followed patients for 12 months.
  
  
  METHODS
  Primary care practices located in 10 states across the United States.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred eleven patients beginning a new treatment episode for major depression.
  
  
  METHODS
  Training the primary care team to assess, educate, and monitor depressed patients during the acute and continuation stages of their depression treatment episode over 1 year.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Cost-effectiveness was measured by calculating incremental (enhanced minus usual care) costs and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) derived from SF-36 data. The mean incremental cost-effectiveness ratio in the main analysis was US dollars 15463 per QALY. The mean incremental cost-effectiveness ratios for the sensitivity analyses ranged from US dollars 11341 (using geographic block variables to control for pre-intervention service utilization) to US dollars 19976 (increasing the cost estimates by 50%) per QALY.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This quality improvement depression intervention was cost-effective relative to usual care compared to cost-effectiveness ratios for common primary care interventions and commonly cited cost-effectiveness ratio thresholds for intervention implementation.
authors.affiliation: HSRD Center for Mental Healthcare and Outcomes Research, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, Little Rock, Arkansas 72114-1706, USA. pynejeffreym@uams.edu
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pyne
authors.forename: Kathryn M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Rost
authors.forename: Mingliang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: D Keith
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fortney
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003863:Depression / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000191:economics* / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics* / Q000592:standards; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D019057:Quality-Adjusted Life Years; D014481:United States