ArticleAmerican journal of preventive medicine2021
Medical Assistant Protocol Improves Disparities in Depression Screening Rates.
Article in American journal of preventive medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pragmatic Clinical Trial of Population Health, Portal-Based Depression Screening: the PORTAL-Depression Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2023Trial
- Evaluation of a Clinic-Level Intervention to Increase Anxiety and Depression Screening in an Urban HIV Clinic.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- Article
- A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of a Primary Care Behavioral Health Integration Program Based on the Chronic Care Model.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Observational
- Mapping policies, regulations, and practice supports for medical office assistants in primary care: a scoping review.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Evaluating Clinical Decision Supports to Improve Adolescent Depression Screening and Management in Pediatric Primary Care.Academic pediatrics · 2025Article
- Improving Depression Screening in Adult Patients With Cancer.Journal of the advanced practitioner in oncology · 2024Article
- Implementation of an EHR-integrated web-based depression assessment in primary care: PORTAL-Depression.JAMIA open · 2024Article
- [Effectiveness of the clinical assistant in the control of hypertensive and diabetic patients in primary care].Atencion primaria · 2024Article
- Asynchronous Versus Synchronous Screening for Depression and Suicidality in a Primary Health Care System: Quality Improvement Study.JMIR mental health · 2024Article
- Elements of Integrated Behavioral Health Associated with Primary Care Provider Confidence in Managing Depression at Community Health Centers.Journal of general internal medicine · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
introductionDepression is a prevalent condition for which screening rates remain low and disparities in screening exist. This study examines the impacts of a medical assistant screening protocol on the rates of depression screening, overall and by sociodemographic groups, in a primary care setting.
methodsBetween September 2016 and August 2018, a quasi-experimental study of adult primary care visits was conducted at an urban academic clinic to ascertain the change in the rates of completion of the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 after the implementation of a medical assistant protocol (intervention) versus that of physician-only screening (control arm). Analyses were conducted between April 2019 and April 2020 and used interrupted time-series models with generalized estimating equations.
resultsA total of 45,157 visits by 21,377 unique patients were included. Overall, screening increased from 18% (physician-only screening) to 57% (medical assistant protocol) (p<0.0001). Screening increased for all measured demographics. With physician screening, depression screening was less likely to occur at visits by women (than at visits by men; OR=0.91, 95% CI=0.85, 0.98) and at visits by Black/African American patients (than at visits by White; OR=0.91, 95% CI=0.84, 0.99). However, with the medical assistant protocol, depression screening was more likely to occur at visits by women (than at visits by men; OR=1.07, 95% CI=1.0002, 1.14) and at visits by Black/African American patients (than at visits by White; OR=1.11, 95% CI=1.02, 1.20). In addition, age-related disparities were mitigated for visits by patients aged 40-64 and ≥65 years (e.g., age ≥65 years: physician, OR=0.66, 95% CI=0.59, 0.73; medical assistant protocol, OR=0.78, 95% CI=0.71, 0.85), compared with visits by patients aged 18-39 years.
conclusionsImplementation of a medical assistant protocol in a primary care setting may significantly increase depression screening rates while mitigating or removing sociodemographic disparities.
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