Key Features

The importance of Polaris-Medical product features is best illustrated through comparison with other measures for depression screening and management. The most critical difference relates to the utility of Polaris-Medical for clinical decision support. Like many other scales, Polaris-Medical provides a reliable and valid assessment of the severity of patient-reported symptoms of depression and anxiety. However, the Polaris-Medical system goes well beyond this. It provides additional information to help the physician (1) decide whether treatment should be recommended; (2) determine which type of treatment (e.g., psychotherapy, medication) should be considered; (3) motivate the patient to accept the recommendation; and (4) monitor the patient’s progress to determine whether treatment is working. Finally, Polaris-Medical is designed to accomplish these things with (5) minimal staff effort and (6) no demands upon the physician beyond reviewing the computer-generated report.

The benefits of Polaris-Medical in relation to traditional measures of depression are illustrated through comparison to the PHQ-9. The PHQ-9 has been commonly been used for research on the prevalence and consequences of depression in Polaris-Medical patients. Polaris-Medical is well suited to research applications, but is designed for clinical use. Other key differences are:

1) Polaris-Medical reports fewer “false positives.”

2) Polaris-Medical is fully automated.

3) Polaris-Medical produces real time, clinically actionable “lab” reports.

4) Polaris-Medical provides a direct measure of the severity of DSM IV depressive symptoms.

5) Anxiety is very frequently co-morbid with depression. Polaris-Medical provides a direct measure of the severity of DSM anxiety symptoms. This is important to clinical decision-making, since some medications are effective for both depression and anxiety.

6) Polaris-Medical provides for the monitoring of the patient’s condition over time.

7) Polaris-Medical alerts the physician to conditions that effect intervention decisions (e.g., bereavement, bipolar disorder, chemical dependency, suicidality).

8) Polaris-Medical is normed to both primary care and mental health populations, indicating the severity of depression and anxiety symptoms in relation to patients in MH treatment. This feature contributes to the clinical utility of Polaris-Medical. A patient whose score is elevated in relation to primary care norms might be provided with self-help information about depression and/or anxiety, and monitored (“watch and wait”). A patient whose score is in the range typically found in mental health treatment might be encouraged to accept a referral for a more thorough psychological assessment, or a medication trial.

9) Polaris-Medical provides treatment history information important to treatment planning: whether the patient is taking psychoactive medications; whether there are problematic side effects; whether the patient has ever been in psychotherapy; whether the medications or therapy were perceived to be helpful.

10) It is possible to customize the Polaris-Medical questionnaire (e.g., adding the PHQ-9 or other items, if desired).

11) Polaris-Medical is designed as a “learning system”; see below.

12) Polaris-Medical automatically generates an invoice for reimbursement by Medicare or commercial payers.

Subsequent versions of the Polaris-Medical will provide for severity adjusted projections of Expected Treatment Response (ETR). This will enable healthcare systems to improve the cost effectiveness of their services, and physicians to better motivate their patients. The ETR will, for example, indicate the likely consequences of watchful waiting, medication, psychotherapy, or a combination. It will allow monitoring of actual vs. expected progress.