More Than Just the Baby Blues In May, Humana introduced its second disease-managing program focused on women s health. The pilot program takes the Beginnings program to the next logical step by focusing on postpartum depression. It s an underreported disorder. Humana screens all new mothers for postpartum depression. In conjunction with Magellen Behavioral Health, one of the largest managers of mental health benefits in the United States, Humana sends out a depression-screening questionnaire to mothers two to three weeks after they give birth.
Responses are in the form of sometimes, never, most of the time.
If a woman s score indicates she may be depressed, a case manager contacts her for a more in-depth assessment. The evaluation assesses current symptoms, such as the content of her thoughts and insights. The mothers who are diagnosed with postpartum depression are advised that they can visit a mental health professional up to 20 visits per calendar year under their Humana contract. There will be a cost saving to the system as a whole by treating depression. Among the programs it offers are two that focus on women.