NNDC and Altarum Partner to Implement Patient Registry to Address National Depression Health Crisis

download (1)  ANN ARBOR, MI—The National Network of Depression Centers (NNDC) and Altarum Institute are jointly developing a comprehensive national clinical data registry to improve the care of patients with depressions and bipolar illnesses and to enable breakthrough advances in treatment. This project builds and expands upon the NNDC’s current Clinical Care Registry program, which collects longitudinal patient outcomes data using standardized measures from their 21 academic and clinical member sites across the country.

“The untimely death of Robin Williams reminds us that depression is a serious life-threatening illness and needs to be recognized as a major public health crisis. It also highlights the overwhelming need for a registry such as this one,” said John F. Greden, MD, founding chair of NNDC and executive director of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Depression Center. “By conservative estimates, one in six Americans has lifetime experience with depressions, bipolar illnesses, or related disorders. An astounding 75–80% of deaths by suicide can be traced to these illnesses.”

The new program will allow NNDC member sites access to a cutting-edge patient registry, provide tools for clinicians to use real-time in patient care, enable research projects that require extremely large samples, and facilitate patient referrals. The data collected in registry will be used to support ongoing research, grant, publication, and collaborative ventures and to foster partnerships with those working in development of new treatments. The NNDC fills an important void.

“A registry of this size and scale is long overdue,” said Dan Armijo, vice president of Altarum Institute. “We hope that our work with NNDC will bring advancements and better patient outcomes for the millions of Americans who suffer from depressive and bipolar illnesses.”

“The NNDC and Altarum bring complementary expertise and closely aligned missions to this venture,” said Pat Rinvelt, executive director of NNDC. “We look forward to working together to produce a valuable resource for both clinicians and researchers.”

To learn more, please visit the National Network of Depression Centers or Altarum Institute, or contact Patricia Rinvelt.

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The National Network of Depression Centers (NNDC) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) network of 21 leading clinical and academic Centers of Excellencein the U.S that develops and fosters connections among members to use the power of the network, to advance scientific discovery, and to provide stigma free, evidence-based care to patients with depressive and bipolar illnesses.

 

Altarum Institute (http://www.altarum.org) integrates objective research and client-centered consulting skills to deliver comprehensive, systems-based solutions that improve health and health care. Altarum employs almost 400 individuals and is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with additional offices in the Washington, DC, area; Portland, Maine; and San Antonio, Texas.