UCSF is the site of the Robert Wood Johnson national demonstration project "Depression in Primary Care". We addressed the structural and financial barriers dictated by the mental health to carve-out arrangement through an innovative economic and clinical partnership. We modified existing economic arrangements so that primary care providers could receive reimbursement for depression care and have access to mental health consultation and care management for their depressed patients.
The Depression in Primary Care (DPC) project was 1 of several demonstration projects funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of their Depression in Primary Care: Linking Clinical and Systems Strategies initiative.The primary aim of the DPC project was to develop, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness and sustainability of a depression management program intended to support primary care clinicians’ management of patients in both acute and chronic phases of treatment.