Group Gets Comparative Effectiveness Research Grant for Depression

The National Institute of Mental Health has award a $1 million in stimulus money for comparative effectiveness research on depression, according to a press release by the Group Health Center for Health Studies, the recipient of the grant. Researchers will evaluate the use of electronic medical records in tracking and comparing the effectiveness of depression treatments over time. Because patients respond differently to different antidepressant drugs, the study will "track health outcomes against various factors in hundreds of Group Health patients' records" to identify which treatments match best to certain type of patients (Press release, 6/1).