Behavioral health care service use and costs associated with switching atypical antipsychotic medication for persons with SMIs

Publication Date: 5/1/2004

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Description:

Concern over double digit increases in annual expenditures for mental health drugs has made clinical benefit versus price a critical issue for Medicaid policymakers and consumers alike. In 1998, antipsychotic medications, among the most costly and commonly prescribed drugs, accounted for nearly 19 percent of national Medicaid pharmaceutical reimbursements. The current study, completed under contract with the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), reviews relevant research on antipsychotic drug treatments in clinical practice and examines antipsychotic prescribing patterns and associated health service utilization and costs of care for Medicaid recipients diagnosed with serious mental illnesses (SMI).