Program at Henry Ford makes gains against suicide, study finds

The rate of suicide among patients with depression at Henry Ford Health System fell by 75% in the first four years of implementing a new depression-care program, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Suicide rates have dropped to 22 per 100,000 from 89 per 100,000 in the first four years of the program, which includes establishing a protocol to assign patients into one of three levels of risk for suicide; providing training for all psychotherapists to develop competency in cognitive-behavior therapy; implementing a protocol for having patients remove weapons from the home; and requiring staff to complete a suicide-prevention course. In the past 2½ years, there has not been a suicide in the system's patient population, according to the study.

“The encouraging results of the initiative suggest that this care model can be highly effective for achieving and sustaining a breakthrough quality improvement in mental healthcare,” C. Edward Coffey, vice president and CEO of behavioral health services at Henry Ford, said in a news release about the findings.