One-Year Medication Treatment Patterns, Healthcare Resource Utilization, and Expenditures for Medicaid Patients with Schizophrenia Starting Oral Atypical Antipsychotic Medication

AbstractOral atypical antipsychotic (OAAP) medications are the most commonly prescribed treatment for the management of schizophrenia symptoms. This retrospective study, using Medicaid claims data (2016 –2020), followed patients for 12 months after initiating OAAP therapy. Study outcomes included OAAP adherence, switching, augmentation, healthcare resource utilization (HRU), and expenditures. All-cause and schizophrenia-related HRU and expenditures were compared between adherent and nonadherent cohorts. Among 13,007 included patients (39.1 ± 12.8 years of age, 57.0% male, 36.1% Black, 31.8% White, 9.7% Hispanic), 25.7% were adherent to OAAPs (proportion of days covered [PDC] ≥ 0.8). During the 1-year follow-up period, Black individuals were in possession of an OAAP for an avera ge of 166 days compared to 198 and 202 days for White and Hispanic patients, respectively. Approximately 16% of patients switched OAAP medications and 3.2% augmented therapy with an OAAP added to their index medication. Nearly 40% of patients were hospitalized during follow-up and 68.4% had emerge ncy department (ED) visits. A greater proportion of nonadherent patients had all-cause inpatient (41.7% vs. 34.1%, p <  0.001) and ED visits (71.7% vs. 58.8%, p <  0.001) compared to adherent patients. Annual total healthcare expenditures were $21,020 per patient; $3481 higher for adherent versus nonadherent patients. Inpatient expenditures comprised 44.6% and 30.6% of total exp...
Source: Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research