2006 Ernest Amory Codman Award Recipient
Organization Award: Behavioral Health Care
Henry Ford Health System Behavioral Health Services Division
Detroit, Michigan
For its initiative: “Building a System of Perfect Depression Care in Behavioral Health”
Click here for initiative profile
In 2001, Henry Ford Health System’s Division of Behavioral Health Services implemented a bold initiative called “Perfect Depression Care” to achieve breakthrough improvement in quality and safety. To drive thinking about optimal care, Perfect Depression Care followed the Six Aims and the Ten New Rules put forth in the Institute of Medicine report, Crossing the Quality Chasm. The “Perfect Depression Care Initiative” had as its key goal the elimination of suicide.
A focus on improving the system of behavioral health care, rather than managing a particular disease, was maintained throughout the project. In addition, opportunities for high-leverage changes to close the gap between current and perfect care were identified: including the voice of the patient in care design and quality; optimizing clinical practice to ensure patient safety and best possible outcomes; improving access by providing patients help when they want and need it; and enhancing information flow. Henry Ford Behavioral Health Services achieved dramatic and sustained reduction in the suicide rate of its patient population at a level unprecedented in the clinical literature.
Achievements
- There was a 71 percent reduction in suicides in the patient population from 45 per 100,000 in 2001 to 13 per 100,000—a rate that was sustained over the three-year period from 2002 to 2004.
- In 2004, the suicide rate in the patient population reached 8.35 per 100,000—a rate below that of the general population (11 per 100,000).