Costs & Benefits of Enhanced Depression Care to Employers
2006
This article, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, aims to estimate the cost-effectiveness of a program of enhanced depression care, specifically for workers compared to usual care from the societal perspective in a cohort of 40-year-old employees in the US. The authors also conduct a cost-benefit analysis from the perspective of the employer-purchaser over a 5-year time frame.
From the societal perspective, the results indicate that screening and depression care management for workers result in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $19,976 per quality-adjusted life year to usual care. From the employer's perspective, enhanced depression care yield a net cumulative benefit of $2,895 after 5 years. In 1-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses, the authors demonstrate that these findings are robust to a variety of assumptions.
The authors conclude that from the societal perspective, a program of enhanced depression care for workers yields gains in quality-adjusted life expectancy at a reasonable cost (i.e., in the range seen for commonly accepted medical interventions covered by employer-sponsored insurance). As an incentive for employers, the authors further state that such a program may save money over the long run.
Costs & Benefits of Enhanced Depression Care to Employers
Source:
Wang PS, Patrick A, Avorn J et al. The Costs and Benefits of Enhanced Depression Care to Employers. Archives of General Psychiatry 2006; 63 (12): 1345-1353. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.63.12.1345