Our Program
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Our Program

TEAMcare is a highly effective program designed to improve disease control in patients with diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease as well as to improve depressive symptoms, functioning and quality of life.

Within 5 to 10 sessions in the patients' primary care clinic with supplemental telephone booster sessions, TEAMcare nurses empower patients to make lasting changes in health behaviors. The nurses work closely with each patient's primary care physician to maximize the effectiveness of medications to enhance control of blood glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol and depression.

How It Started

The TEAMcare program was developed by a unique collaboration between the University of Washington and the Group Health Research Institute. Its multi-disciplinary team has collaborated for 25 years, developing models to improve the quality of care and outcomes of chronic medical conditions for patients in the Group Health Primary Care Clinics.

Testing in 14 Group Health clinics showed that the TEAMcare program is significantly more effective than usual primary care in improving patients' glucose, blood pressure, low density lipid cholesterol and depression control. The TEAMcare program is currently being disseminated in health care systems in both the United States and Canada.

the TEAMcare program

  • Focuses on teaching patients the self-care skills necessary to optimally control chronic illnesses.
  • Is delivered in the patient's primary care clinic and by telephone.
  • Takes a team-based approach involving nurses, a supervising psychiatrist, a primary care physician and medical providers.
  • Aims to increase behaviors that enhance quality of life and decrease depressive symptoms.
  • Is well-suited to patients with chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease who also experience depression.
    • The 2011 NCQA criteria for level 2 medical home will require primary care clinics to demonstrate quality improvement efforts for three disorders, one of which is a behavioral disorder such as depression.

      The TEAMcare program can help you meet this NCQA requirement.