– Federal Project to Improve Behavioral Health Services for Medicare Recipients Will Help Prepare for Future Disasters –

News Release 3/13/14 –
EAST BRUNSWICK – Some older adults and disabled residents in the Perth Amboy and Keasbey community may be at increased risk of deteriorating health, depression, anxiety/adjustment disorders, and isolation as a result of Superstorm Sandy. A new behavioral health profile, developed by Healthcare Quality Strategies, Inc. (HQSI), the federally designated healthcare quality improvement organization for New Jersey, provides data that can help determine the storm’s impact of depression risk factors.

The Perth Amboy and Keasbey profile is one of 10 community and 10 county profiles developed as part of an ambitious Medicare-funded project, Enhancing Coordination of Behavioral Health Services after Superstorm Sandy: Planning for Future Disasters. The profiles focus on areas hardest hit by the storm.

The project aims to help local communities understand how the storm affected the behavioral health of older adults and the disabled, as well as plan for future disasters. Another goal is to encourage greater use of depression screening, a covered service for Medicare beneficiaries that can help identify those with deteriorating health related to depression.

HQSI used Medicare claims and other data to analyze rates of depression and related disorders, and the use of behavioral health services, among Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries living in selected communities during the 21-month period prior to October 2012. For example, the data shows that in Perth Amboy and Keasbey during this period:

• 26.6 percent of Medicare Fee for Service beneficiaries experienced depression or related disorders, such as anxiety or adjustment disorders.

• The Medicare FFS beneficiaries residing in the Perth Amboy and Keasbey community were at a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders or senile dementia (5.0%) and substance or alcohol abuse or tobacco use (9.4%) than those residing in Middlesex County.

• There was no utilization of the Medicare depression screening benefit in the Perth Amboy and Keasbey community for calendar year 2012. Depression screening became a Medicare benefit in October, 2011.

“Collecting this baseline data is the first step toward understanding how Superstorm Sandy affected the behavioral health of Medicare recipients,” said HQSI Quality Improvement Specialist Nicole Skyer-Brandwene, MS, RPh, BCPS. HQSI plans to update the profile with post-Superstorm Sandy data in early spring to determine the impact of the storm on behavioral health issues and services.

HQSI is reaching out to community leaders and mayors in Perth Amboy and Keasbey to discuss how this data can help increase the rate of depression screening and support a community-based approach to behavioral health services after a disaster.

“Older adults are especially vulnerable to physical and behavioral health issues after a disaster and, unlike other conditions, behavioral health issues are often under-diagnosed,” said Ms. Skyer-Brandwene. “Unfortunately, in our society, the stigma associated with behavioral or mental health may prevent people from seeking care. Since depression can also affect physical health, screening is an important health tool. That’s why we want to spread the word that depression screening is a covered Medicare benefit.”

The community profiles, and the county profiles HQSI developed for the New Jersey counties declared federal disaster areas after Superstorm Sandy, are available at www.hqsi.org.