The Alliance has assembled a Depression Toolkit as a resource for primary care physicians and office staff. Annual exams are ideal opportunities in which to identify depression in patients. This toolkit addresses many areas related to depression including: common symptoms of depression (whether or not the patient complains of being sad), depressive symptoms in different populations, chronic conditions and their relationship to depression, adverse effects of medication on depression, screening tools, referral options, suicidality, and how to implement depression screenings.
The Alliance encourages providers to keep this toolkit on hand during appointments in order to use as a quick reference guide as well as using it to inform clinic work flow design. http://www.ccah- alliance.org/providerspdfs/Depression_Toolkit.pdf
For more information on the DSF measure, including current depression screening codes, and different data submission options, please review the DSF Tip Sheet. http://www.ccah- alliance.org/providerspdfs/DSF_Tip_Sheet_Final.pdf
The Alliance encourages screening all patients for depression annually, and to provide follow up care for those experiencing depression.
