BETHESDA, Md. /eNewsChannels/ — M3 congratulates David Grant PhD and his team at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research for their landmark November 2011 study outlining California’s unmet Mental Health needs. Consistent with an earlier nationwide survey, this new study found that only half of Californians with mental illness receive treatment, while just one in four receives adequate treatment.
Review study at (PDF): healthpolicy.ucla.edu/pubs/files/MentalHealthreportnov2011.pdf .
Recent nationwide healthcare reform supports screening by mandating coverage, including the elimination of co-pays, for adult depression screening in doctors’ offices. As a state-of-the-art multi-dimensional screen designed to fit this role, the M3’s validity was demonstrated in the March 2010 Annals of Family Medicine.
Fostering office-centered patient engagement in accord with the Medical Home model, M3 offers clinicians a web-based portal for screening and longitudinal tracking of progress for these conditions, while fulfilling criteria for physician reimbursement. Cloud-based and HIPAA-compliant, M3Clinician.com requires no investment in software or hardware. Compatible with the Apple iPad and other similar devices, this game-changing option maximizes clinical engagement with the patient by providing efficient clinical decision support at the point of care. The M3 provides a total score, measuring the overall symptom burden, while four subscores indicate specific risks for depression, anxiety, PTSD and bipolar disorders.
The M3 offers this same powerful tool to large managed care plans and individual practices, and the reports generated are readily incorporated into most Electronic Health Record systems.
Fortunately, individuals with mental illness can find support at mymoodmonitor.com, where M3 provides, in English and Spanish, a free confidential screen for mood and anxiety disorders. The free screen can also be found, along with other valuable resources, at Mental Health America’s website. Many people are aware of how common depression is, yet do not realize anxiety disorders are even more prevalent, and that bipolar disorder is often overlooked or misdiagnosed. The National Institute of Mental Health, through its sponsorship of the Grand Challenges of Global Mental Health, listed as the first of its 25 challenges to “integrate screening and core packages of services into routine primary health care.” Armed with an understanding of mood and anxiety symptoms, individuals are more likely to actively engage in the effective treatments that are available. The new California study once again demonstrates how mental illness can worsen or complicate other chronic physical conditions, like diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure, and increase the risk for obesity and tobacco and alcohol dependence.
An instructional video demonstrating the M3 screen can be found on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdBTCtosSIs .
About M3: M3 is based in Bethesda, Maryland. M3 is dedicated to improving the recognition and treatment of mental illness within primary care. Visit M3 on Facebook and at iTunes.
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