Issues in Access to New Treatment Options for Individuals with Severe Depression

This white paper is a direct outcome of the inaugural meeting of the National Task Force on Consumer Access to Emerging Neurotechnologies, a group composed of stakeholders in the health and human services field who are interested in assuring, and capable of effecting, the appropriate and equitable access to emerging neurotechnologies for all consumers with mental health, behavioral health, and neurological conditions. The National Task Force discussed the policy, financing, and clinical practice issues that will affect consumer access to new neurotechnologies, with a particular focus on the recently-available neurotechnologies for the treatment of depression. The briefing and discussion focused on three areas - implications of the current research on depression treatment efficacy on treatment guidelines; how to define depression that is resistant to currently available treatment options; and possible standards of scientific evidence required to make new depression treatment technologies available to consumers.