COMPASS (Care Of Mental, Physical And Substance-use Syndromes) used an evidence-based collaborative care management model designed to improve the care of patients with depression and diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease that builds on the work of the University of Washington’s AIMS Center and that of DIAMOND in Minnesota.
ICSI led this three-year initiative from 2012-2015, which included nine other organizations, among them AIMS Center and HealthPartners Institute as the research partner. COMPASS was funded by Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation.
For patients enrolled more than four months, the project’s original goals of 40 percent improvement in depression control and a 20 percent improvement in diabetes and hypertension control were exceeded. COMPASS was implemented across a diverse spectrum of 18 medical groups, 171 clinics and 3,300 clinicians in eight states. The groups differed greatly in size, organizational structure, patient populations, and payment systems. The patient population included those with commercial, Medicare and Medicaid insurance coverage.
Intervention Guide
The COMPASS Intervention Guide provides the clinical workflow, supporting annotations and appendices to aid primary care systems in implementing the COMPASS model. Developed with dedicated involvement by the original COMPASS partners, it includes both evidence and best practices, and provides tools these partners found helpful in implementation. The COMPASS Intervention Guide provides the clinical workflow, supporting annotations and appendices to aid primary care systems in implementing the COMPASS model. Developed with dedicated involvement by the original COMPASS partners, it includes both evidence and best practices, and provides tools these partners found helpful in implementation. Throughout implementation the COMPASS consortium partners shared their lessons learned so that others could benefit. View the Guide.
Implementation Resources
The COMPASS consortium partners developed an extensive set of training materials used throughout the project, along with additional tools reflecting on lessons learned so others could benefit. View the Resources.
National Implementation Results Published
Outcomes and key learnings have been published from this national dissemination and implementation initiative to improve treatment for patients with depression and diabetes/heart disease. Read the papers in General Hospital Psychiatry.
An accompanying editorial reads, in part, “Taken together, these results show both the promise of this innovative intervention and the ongoing challenges of clinically implementing an intensive intervention for highly complex patients…The fact that the COMPASS initiative was initiated and completed after a single research trial of blended collaborative care is a model for the rapid clinical implementation of effective treatment programs.” Read the editorial.