Mental Health

My work on depression has focused on improving the treatment of depression in primary care settings. I was the academic co-leader for the community engagement intervention based in the Hollywood-Downtown community for the Community Partners in Care study, which found that community engagement improved mental health quality of life more than traditional consultations regarding evidence-based depression care for community settings. The Community Partners in Care study won the 2014 Joint Team Science Award, given by the Association for Clinical and Translational Science and the American Federation for Medical Research.

Bowen Chung, Michael Ong, Susan Ettner, Felica Jones, James Gilmore, Michael McCreary, Cathy Sherbourne, Lingqi Tang, Elizabeth Dixon, Jeanne Miranda, Kenneth Wells. 12-Month Outcomes of Community Engagement Versus Technical Assistance for Depression Quality Improvement: A Partnered, Cluster, Randomized, Comparative-Effectiveness Trial. Annals of Internal Medicine, 2014 Nov 18, 161(10_Supplement): S23-S34. PMCID: PMC4235578
Jeanne Miranda, Michael Ong, Loretta Jones, Bowen Chung, Elizabeth Dixon, Lingqi Tang, Jim Gilmore, Cathy Sherbourne, Victoria Ngo, Susan Stockdale, Esmeralda Ramos, Thomas Belin, Kenneth Wells. Community-Partnered Evaluation of Depression Services for Clients of Community-Based Agencies in Under-Resourced Communities in Los Angeles. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2013 Oct;28(10):1279-87, Epub 2013 May 14. PMCID: PMC3785668
Kenneth Wells, Loretta Jones, Bowen Chung, Elizabeth Dixon, Lingqi Tang, Jim Gilmore, Cathy Sherbourne, Victoria Ngo, Michael Ong, Susan Stockdale, Esmeralda Ramos, Thomas Belin, Jeanne Miranda. Community-Partnered Cluster-Randomized Comparative Effectiveness Trial of Community Engagement and Planning or Program Technical Assistance to Address Depression Disparities. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2013 Oct;28(10):1268-78 Epub 2013 May 7 PMCID: PMC3785665
Susan Ettner, Francisca Azocar, Robert Branstrom, Lisa Meredith, Lily Zhang, Michael Ong. Association of general medical and psychiatric comorbidities with receipt of guideline-concordant care for depression. Psychiatric Services, 2010 Dec;61(12):1255-9. PMCID: PMC3776027

I have evaluated pharmaceutical policy changes in copayments, over the counter status, and coverage restrictions, and their effects on the utilization and related clinical outcomes. After our work on Medicare Part D’s benzodiazepine exclusion was published, the exclusion was rescinded.

Michael Ong, Haiyong Xu, Lily Zhang, Francisca Azocar, Susan Ettner. Effect of Medicare Part D Benzodiazepine Exclusion on Psychotropic Use Among Benzodiazepine Users. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 2012 Jul;60(7):1292-7. PMCID: PMC4387568
Michael Ong, Lily Zhang, Haiyong Xu, Francisca Azocar, Susan Ettner. Effect of Medicare Part D Benzodiazepine Exclusion on Psychotropic Use Among Patients with New Anxiety Disorders. Psychiatric Services 2012 Jul;63(7):637-42. PMCID: PMC4402160
Michael Ong, Ralph Catalano, Terry Hartig. A time-series analysis of the effect of increased copayments on the prescription of antidepressants, anxiolytics, and sedatives in Sweden from 1990 to 1999, Clinical Therapeutics 2003; 25(4): 1262-1275. PMID: 12809972
Theodore Keeler, Teh-wei Hu, Alison Keith, Richard Manning, Martin Marciniak, Michael Ong, Hai-Yen Sung. The benefits of switching smoking cessation drugs to over-the-counter status, Health Economics 2002; 11(5): 389-402. PMID: 12112489