Process mapping appointments to identify improvements in care delivered to patients who screen positive for depression

Rationale, aims and objectives After screening positive for depression, many patients do not receive effective medication or maintain optimal contact with practitioners. Our objective was to examine how appointments that patients have after screening positive may affect the delivery of evidence-based and guideline-concordant depression care. Methods We reviewed treatment records for 271 patients who screened positive for depression in primary care across three United States Veterans Health Administration medical facilities. For each patient, we mapped the process of appointments that took place following the positive screen, noting the number of appointments, the service line in which each appointment was held, as well as whether guideline-concordant depression care was in turn received over four months. Results We found that (i) approximately half of the patients who screened positive had no follow-up appointments, (ii) all patients who had two or more follow-up appointments received some – but not necessarily guideline-concordant – mental health treatment, and (iii) there were distinct patterns across the three facilities regarding which service lines’ appointments most often resulted in treatment. Conclusions Our work offers a novel approach of using data on appointments that patients have after screening positive for depression to shed light on current care practices. The number of post-screening appointments can be an informative process measure for improving depression care to become more guideline-concordant. Facilities vary substantially in terms of which service lines they use to attain guideline-concordance, likely due to notable differences in how their primary care, integrated primary care behavioral health, and mental health services are organized.