Paying Doctors to Screen Patients

According to Psychiatric News, Aetna, one of the world’s largest insurance companies “will pay increased fees” to primary care physicians who screen patients for depression.

Participating physicians “will be paid 30 to 40 percent more for a routine visit when the depression screening questionnaire is used.”

—Steven Sharfstein, M.D., “Economic Incentives Increase Access to Depression Care,” Psychiatric News, January 6, 2006, Vol. 41, #1, P. 3