With a concern about inappropriate prescribing of antipsychotic medications to children, 31 states have implemented prior authorization policies for atypical antipsychotic prescribing, mostly within the past 5 years, and with most states applying their policies to children younger than 7 years of age, according to a study in the March 3 issue of JAMA.
Over the past two decades, antipsychotic prescribing to youth, almost exclusively comprising atypical antipsychotic medications, was estimated to have increased from 0.16 percent in 1993- 1998 to 1.07 percent in 2005-2009 in office-based physician visits. Antipsychotic use is also 5-fold greater in Medicaid-insured youth than in privately insured youth, and occurs mostly for indications not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In light of antipsychotic treatment-emergent cardiometabolic adverse events, several government reports called for efforts to improve pediatric psychotropic medication oversight in state Medicaid agencies. Such efforts have included agerestricted prior authorization policies, which require clinicians to obtain preapproval from Medicaid agencies to prescribe atypical antipsychotics to children younger than a certain age as a condition for coverage, according to background information in the article.
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