BenefitNews Connect reports: “Treatment costs down, yet depression still cost drain.”
New research indicates the economic burden depression places on employers may be somewhat self-inflicted. Although costs to treat the disease have decreased over a 10-year period, absenteeism and productivity costs have remained high, a sign employers do not yet have a firm grip on how to target the disease in the workplace.
The annual cost per treated case of depression fell 19% between 1990 and 2000, mainly due to fewer hospitalizations and effective treatment through antidepressant medication, according to a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry (available at www.psychiatrist.com; free registration required). However, researchers also discover the workplace costs of the disease remained nearly $53 billion annually over the same period.
Study coauthor Ronald Kessler believes depression sufferers are being “half-treated” due to poor education and follow-up treatment of the disease. Workplace programs such as depression screenings and employee assistance programs can go a long way to identify depressed employees, and intervene early enough to lessen the disease’s personal and financial impact, experts say.
Often employers bear these costs but then fail to see the employee through to recovery, so in many cases you can add on the costs of turnover, sometimes including litigation over termination of employment.
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