Today, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) announced that the National Network of Depression Centers (NNDC), non–profit consortium of more than 600 faculty members from leading US academic medical centers, will collaborate with the APA on PsychPRO, the APA’s national mental health registry.

The APA announced last fall the launch of PsychPRO (Psychiatric Patient Registry Online), a registry that will help psychiatrists deliver high quality care and meet new MACRA quality reporting requirements by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, (CMS). PsychPRO will spur future research and develop better ways to treat and prevent psychiatric illnesses.

“This is an exciting time for the NNDC to join the American Psychiatric Association in this clinical quality improvement initiative to improve depression care,” says Ray DePaulo, MD, Chairperson of the NNDC Board of Directors and University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Our growing collaborative network can provide the research expertise needed to maximize the value of data generated through the APA PsychPRO Registry and accelerate important work being done in the field of mood disorders.”

A clinical registry is a system that helps providers easily collect and submit quality reports; in addition, it gives patients a secure way to provide information to their clinicians to track their progress. The registry will also give psychiatrists a simple way to submit data required for professional recertification by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN). The registry, over time, will serve as an important research tool for the field of psychiatry to better understand mental health conditions and to develop new treatments that improve the outcomes and functioning of patients.

“We are pleased that the National Network of Depression Centers has joined our PsychPRO registry initiative,” said APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, MD, MPA. “We look forward to working with NNDC and the sharing of their expertise in registries and the potential for collaboration on research in the future.”

For more information on the mental health registry, go here.

The National Network of Depression Centers is a non–profit 501 (c)(3) network that unites the nation’s leading academic institutions to advance knowledge, improve care, and drive the national conversation on depression, bipolar and related mood disorders. The NNDC fosters connections among its members to mobilize around the Network’s top priorities, including large–scale research initiatives, standardization of treatment protocols, and education and outreach on a national level to inform policy and advocate for public and private support of mood disorders research. Visit the NNDC at www.nndc.org. The American Psychiatric Association is a national medical specialty society whose more than 37,000 physician members specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and research of mental illnesses, including substance use disorders.