WGBH to examine employer mental health costs
The Washington Business Group on Health (WBGH) in Washington, DC, has been awarded a three-year contract from the National Institute on Mental Health in Bethesda, MD, to examine and encourage employer innovations in managing mental health and psychiatric disability costs, particularly costs associated with one of the most common illnesses affecting working adults clinical depression.
The contract allows WBGH to continue administering the Depression Awareness, Recognition, and Treatment (D/ART) National Worksite Program, established in 1989 to promote the cost-effective management of depression through employment-based benefits and services that encourage early recognition, appropriate care, and timely return to work.
The program provides technical assistance to employers and training for targeted human resource professionals on managing the direct and indirect costs associated with depression. The worksite program is part of the broader D/ART program established in 1985 by the National Institute of Mental Health to disseminate to the public and health care providers knowledge gained from more than 50 years of research on the diagnosis, treatment, and management of clinical depression.
"We have two initiatives planned for 1997-98," Angela Burgess, MBA, told Employee Health & Fitness in March. Burgess is the manager of the D/ART program for WBGH. "We will have an executive briefing on April 30, 1997, called "Investing in Workplace Productivity: Managing Indirect Mental Health Costs." It will be an invitation-only event for leading employers and analysts. Then, we also plan a [geographic] market-based roundtable series for employers and analysts, but we have yet to identify the target markets."
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