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Depression in Primary Care: Learning Lessons in a National Quality Improvement Program

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Abstract

In this introduction, we describe the overall context and rationale for the Depression in Primary Care program and the design and implementation of its key components, especially emphasizing its unique combined clinical and economic/systems framework. We also discuss some of the new challenges and opportunities that may impact the program’s evolution and the state of behavioral health care more generally. We conclude with some thoughts on potential future scenarios and strategies for improving the quality of behavioral health care, including the treatment of depression in primary care.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, USA

    Harold Alan Pincus

  2. Senior Program Officer, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, NJ, USA

    Constance Pechura

  3. Research Communicator, RAND-University of Pittsburgh Health Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Donna Keyser

  4. Communications Consultant, Depression in Primary Care: Linking Clinical and Systems Strategies, National Program Office, San Fransisco, CA, USA

    John Bachman

  5. Deputy Director, Depression in Primary Care: Linking Clinical and Systems Strategies National Program Office, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, 160 N. Craig Street, Suite 222, Pittsburgh, 15213, PA, USA

    Jeanine Knox Houtsinger

Authors
  1. Harold Alan Pincus
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  2. Constance Pechura
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  3. Donna Keyser
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  4. John Bachman
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  5. Jeanine Knox Houtsinger
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeanine Knox Houtsinger.

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Pincus, H.A., Pechura, C., Keyser, D. et al. Depression in Primary Care: Learning Lessons in a National Quality Improvement Program. Adm Policy Ment Health 33, 2–15 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-005-4227-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-005-4227-1

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