WhatsMyM3?

What’s your mental health number?

This is the question that the Bipolar Collaborative is asking, using its M3 screening tool. “Many other illnesses have a 'number' that one can track – cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes. What’s the number for mental health?” asks Michael Byer, president of M3 Information, based in Bethesda, Md.

Psychiatrist researcher, Robert Post, started the Bipolar Collaborative almost 10 years ago. “I became frustrated that our field had not made any significant improvements in screening for mental illness, particularly bipolar disorder.” So, the former chief of the NIMH Mood Disorders Branch decided to do something about it and developed, along with a team of other researchers and clinicians, a screening tool that assesses not just depression, but also symptoms of bipolar disorder, PTSD, and other forms of anxiety. [Disclosure: this author is an adviser to M3 Information and has a small stake in the company.]

The 3-minute, 27-item tool was validated at the University of North Carolina. The researchers recruited 647 adult outpatients from an academic primary care practice and compared results on the M3 with those from the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview that was used as the gold standard.

The total M3 score demonstrated 0.83 sensitivity and 0.76 specificity for any psychiatric disorder, and similar or better metrics for the four disease components of major depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, and anxiety disorder.

The clinicians found that they could review the results in under 30 seconds and that it helped them quickly review the patients’ emotional health. “The advantage to WhatsMyM3 over the historical depression screening tool, the PHQ-9, is that the PHQ does not look for bipolar symptoms at all, meaning you will commit a fifth of patients screening positive to the wrong treatment,” said Byer. “It also screens for anxiety disorder, which is often overlooked or masquerades as other conditions.”

Dr. Post’s group has developed a free website, WhatsMyM3.com, where anyone can take the confidential test for free. They have also developed mobile health apps on both iPhone and Android platforms. These “mHealth” apps have the ability to track symptom scores over time, and one can upload the results to Microsoft HealthVault, making it potentially available to your health care provider in their electronic health record.

It is well recognized that mental illnesses are prevalent, often go untreated, and result in heavy personal and societal consequences. The National Comorbidity Survey found a 12-month prevalence estimate of 9.5% for mood disorders, with nearly half being considered severe. Anxiety disorder prevalence was twice as high as mood disorders. And only a little more than one-third were receiving minimally adequate treatment. The World Health Organization has identified depression as the leading contributor of disease burden in the United States and Canada (as measured by disability-adjusted life years or DALYs) – more than ischemic heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and COPD.

The costs of untreated mental illness are high. Dr. Roger Kathol, from Cartesian Solutions, used claims data to show that the cost of comorbid mental illness in someone with a chronic medical condition, like arthritis, diabetes, and congestive heart failure, is double the cost of having the chronic condition alone. And much of that increased cost falls in the physical health side. Identifying and treating the mental illness results in significant reductions in costs. [1]

“Now that employers recognize the benefits and payers are paying for health risk assessments, such as the M3, using the 99420 CPT code, there is an even greater incentive for primary care providers to screen their patients annually. We built the m3clinician provider portal to facilitate regular screenings and tracking of symptoms over time by a provider,” said Byer.
So, what’s your M3?

—Steven Roy Daviss, M.D., DFAPA

DR. DAVISS is chair of the department of psychiatry at the University of Maryland’s Baltimore Washington Medical Center, chair of the APA Committee on Electronic Health Records, co-chair of the CCHIT Behavioral Health Work Group, and co-author of Shrink Rap: Three Psychiatrists Explain Their Work, published by Johns Hopkins University Press. He is found on Twitter @HITshrink, at drdavissATgmail.com, and on the Shrink Rap blog.

[1] Kathol, 2012. “Psychiatrist Orientation to Health Complexity & Integrated Care Management.” Presentation at the Annual APA Meeting, Philadelphia.

What’s your mental health number?

This is the question that the Bipolar Collaborative is asking, using its M3 screening tool. “Many other illnesses have a 'number' that one can track – cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes. What’s the number for mental health?” asks Michael Byer, president of M3 Information, based in Bethesda, Md.

Psychiatrist researcher, Robert Post, started the Bipolar Collaborative almost 10 years ago. “I became frustrated that our field had not made any significant improvements in screening for mental illness, particularly bipolar disorder.” So, the former chief of the NIMH Mood Disorders Branch decided to do something about it and developed, along with a team of other researchers and clinicians, a screening tool that assesses not just depression, but also symptoms of bipolar disorder, PTSD, and other forms of anxiety. [Disclosure: this author is an adviser to M3 Information and has a small stake in the company.]

The 3-minute, 27-item tool was validated at the University of North Carolina. The researchers recruited 647 adult outpatients from an academic primary care practice and compared results on the M3 with those from the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview that was used as the gold standard.

The total M3 score demonstrated 0.83 sensitivity and 0.76 specificity for any psychiatric disorder, and similar or better metrics for the four disease components of major depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, and anxiety disorder.

The clinicians found that they could review the results in under 30 seconds and that it helped them quickly review the patients’ emotional health. “The advantage to WhatsMyM3 over the historical depression screening tool, the PHQ-9, is that the PHQ does not look for bipolar symptoms at all, meaning you will commit a fifth of patients screening positive to the wrong treatment,” said Byer. “It also screens for anxiety disorder, which is often overlooked or masquerades as other conditions.”

Dr. Post’s group has developed a free website, WhatsMyM3.com, where anyone can take the confidential test for free. They have also developed mobile health apps on both iPhone and Android platforms. These “mHealth” apps have the ability to track symptom scores over time, and one can upload the results to Microsoft HealthVault, making it potentially available to your health care provider in their electronic health record.

It is well recognized that mental illnesses are prevalent, often go untreated, and result in heavy personal and societal consequences. The National Comorbidity Survey found a 12-month prevalence estimate of 9.5% for mood disorders, with nearly half being considered severe. Anxiety disorder prevalence was twice as high as mood disorders. And only a little more than one-third were receiving minimally adequate treatment. The World Health Organization has identified depression as the leading contributor of disease burden in the United States and Canada (as measured by disability-adjusted life years or DALYs) – more than ischemic heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and COPD.

The costs of untreated mental illness are high. Dr. Roger Kathol, from Cartesian Solutions, used claims data to show that the cost of comorbid mental illness in someone with a chronic medical condition, like arthritis, diabetes, and congestive heart failure, is double the cost of having the chronic condition alone. And much of that increased cost falls in the physical health side. Identifying and treating the mental illness results in significant reductions in costs. [1]

“Now that employers recognize the benefits and payers are paying for health risk assessments, such as the M3, using the 99420 CPT code, there is an even greater incentive for primary care providers to screen their patients annually. We built the m3clinician provider portal to facilitate regular screenings and tracking of symptoms over time by a provider,” said Byer.
So, what’s your M3?

—Steven Roy Daviss, M.D., DFAPA

DR. DAVISS is chair of the department of psychiatry at the University of Maryland’s Baltimore Washington Medical Center, chair of the APA Committee on Electronic Health Records, co-chair of the CCHIT Behavioral Health Work Group, and co-author of Shrink Rap: Three Psychiatrists Explain Their Work, published by Johns Hopkins University Press. He is found on Twitter @HITshrink, at drdavissATgmail.com, and on the Shrink Rap blog.

[1] Kathol, 2012. “Psychiatrist Orientation to Health Complexity & Integrated Care Management.” Presentation at the Annual APA Meeting, Philadelphia.

What’s your mental health number?

This is the question that the Bipolar Collaborative is asking, using its M3 screening tool. “Many other illnesses have a 'number' that one can track – cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes. What’s the number for mental health?” asks Michael Byer, president of M3 Information, based in Bethesda, Md.

Psychiatrist researcher, Robert Post, started the Bipolar Collaborative almost 10 years ago. “I became frustrated that our field had not made any significant improvements in screening for mental illness, particularly bipolar disorder.” So, the former chief of the NIMH Mood Disorders Branch decided to do something about it and developed, along with a team of other researchers and clinicians, a screening tool that assesses not just depression, but also symptoms of bipolar disorder, PTSD, and other forms of anxiety. [Disclosure: this author is an adviser to M3 Information and has a small stake in the company.]

The 3-minute, 27-item tool was validated at the University of North Carolina. The researchers recruited 647 adult outpatients from an academic primary care practice and compared results on the M3 with those from the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview that was used as the gold standard.

The total M3 score demonstrated 0.83 sensitivity and 0.76 specificity for any psychiatric disorder, and similar or better metrics for the four disease components of major depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, and anxiety disorder.

The clinicians found that they could review the results in under 30 seconds and that it helped them quickly review the patients’ emotional health. “The advantage to WhatsMyM3 over the historical depression screening tool, the PHQ-9, is that the PHQ does not look for bipolar symptoms at all, meaning you will commit a fifth of patients screening positive to the wrong treatment,” said Byer. “It also screens for anxiety disorder, which is often overlooked or masquerades as other conditions.”

Dr. Post’s group has developed a free website, WhatsMyM3.com, where anyone can take the confidential test for free. They have also developed mobile health apps on both iPhone and Android platforms. These “mHealth” apps have the ability to track symptom scores over time, and one can upload the results to Microsoft HealthVault, making it potentially available to your health care provider in their electronic health record.

It is well recognized that mental illnesses are prevalent, often go untreated, and result in heavy personal and societal consequences. The National Comorbidity Survey found a 12-month prevalence estimate of 9.5% for mood disorders, with nearly half being considered severe. Anxiety disorder prevalence was twice as high as mood disorders. And only a little more than one-third were receiving minimally adequate treatment. The World Health Organization has identified depression as the leading contributor of disease burden in the United States and Canada (as measured by disability-adjusted life years or DALYs) – more than ischemic heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and COPD.

The costs of untreated mental illness are high. Dr. Roger Kathol, from Cartesian Solutions, used claims data to show that the cost of comorbid mental illness in someone with a chronic medical condition, like arthritis, diabetes, and congestive heart failure, is double the cost of having the chronic condition alone. And much of that increased cost falls in the physical health side. Identifying and treating the mental illness results in significant reductions in costs. [1]

“Now that employers recognize the benefits and payers are paying for health risk assessments, such as the M3, using the 99420 CPT code, there is an even greater incentive for primary care providers to screen their patients annually. We built the m3clinician provider portal to facilitate regular screenings and tracking of symptoms over time by a provider,” said Byer.
So, what’s your M3?

—Steven Roy Daviss, M.D., DFAPA

DR. DAVISS is chair of the department of psychiatry at the University of Maryland’s Baltimore Washington Medical Center, chair of the APA Committee on Electronic Health Records, co-chair of the CCHIT Behavioral Health Work Group, and co-author of Shrink Rap: Three Psychiatrists Explain Their Work, published by Johns Hopkins University Press. He is found on Twitter @HITshrink, at drdavissATgmail.com, and on the Shrink Rap blog.

[1] Kathol, 2012. “Psychiatrist Orientation to Health Complexity & Integrated Care Management.” Presentation at the Annual APA Meeting, Philadelphia.