Accountable care organizations (ACOs) have become Medicare’s dominant care model, and depression and anxiety disorders are the most prevalent and undertreated chronic mental health conditions in Medicare.
In the November issue of Health Affairs, Jason Hockenberry and coauthors explore whether ACOs impact treatment and outcomes for depression and anxiety disorders.
Using survey data from a sample of traditional Medicare beneficiaries, they find that among Medicaid “patients not enrolled in ACOs at baseline, those who newly enrolled in ACOs in the following year were 24 percent less likely to have their depression or anxiety treated during the year than patients who remained unenrolled in ACOs.”
Hockenberry and coauthors conclude that better-designed incentives are needed to improve mental health treatment in private Medicare ACOs and better serve low-income disabled and rural patients with anxiety disorders and depression.
