Phreesia's Digital Depression Screening Improves Early Detection and Drives Better Healthcare Outcomes in Medical Practices

NEW YORK, Oct. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Phreesia, the patient check-in company, proudly supports National Depression Screening Day, which aims to raise awareness about the importance of screening individuals for depression and related mood and anxiety disorders. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, depressive disorders affect approximately 18.8 million Americans over the age of 18; only 20 percent of those who develop depression receive adequate treatment. As such, in 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force prioritized depression screenings in adult patients to encourage early detection and to decrease depression-related morbidity and mortality. Phreesia simplifies the screening process for medical practices by using an electronic, patient self-service version of the Personal Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), which ensures proper patient assessment, improves clinical care and saves staff time. Phreesia's version of the PHQ-9 has been shown to save up to 45 minutes of work per patient, and comes at no additional cost to practices.

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Phreesia, which replaces the patient clipboard with its wireless, touchscreen PhreesiaPad, digitizes the traditional depression screening—a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. Phreesia is programmed to utilize validated algorithms to automatically administer the PHQ-9 to appropriate patients during check-in, and immediately scores their responses. The solution eases the workload of practice staff and, by ensuring that all relevant patients are thoroughly screened, it helps clinicians detect depression early and provide patients with the appropriate care.

"Phreesia's electronic version of the PHQ-9 has made a real difference in our practice, particularly in its ability to offer patients a more private environment to respond to these questions," says Armando Silva, Director of Medical Records at Aunt Martha's Healthcare Network in Chicago, Ill. "Providers are now able to process, review and refer in a manner that we were not able to elicit with the paper process. In addition, our documentation has improved with the entire process, and we are now ensuring quality assurance compliance with the screening."

Used by millions of patients every year, Phreesia is an optimal platform for engaging patients in their own healthcare. During check-in, patients enter their complete demographic and clinical information on the PhreesiaPad, which triggers questions specifically targeted toward their current health status. In this way, Phreesia is able to elicit comprehensive responses from patients, while providing them with the utmost privacy and security. With its growing library of assessments, which includes asthma, autism and sleep disorders, Phreesia is an ideal platform for administering clinical screenings to patients.

Phreesia CEO Chaim Indig remarks, "Phreesia is proud to support National Depression Screening Day with the electronic version of the PHQ-9. Early detection is critical to improving healthcare outcomes and, through our unique patient-engagement platform and our growing library of health screenings, Phreesia is taking an active role in providing a vital public health service that helps medical practices achieve positive results for their patients."

The PHQ-9 is licensed to Phreesia through a separate agreement with Pfizer, Inc. PHQ © 1999 Pfizer, Inc. All rights reserved.

About Phreesia

Phreesia, the patient check-in company, streamlines the patient check-in process, helping medical practices increase cash flow and save staff time. With its wireless, touchscreen PhreesiaPad, the solution allows medical practices to collect patient information effortlessly, electronically verify insurance and collect payments both at the point of care and outside of the office. Phreesia delivers fully interactive content direct to patients, and is designed to interface with clinicians' existing and future technology. It is committed to enhancing the patient experience and enabling clinicians to stay at the forefront of patient care. For more information, visit www.phreesia.com.

SOURCE Phreesia

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