Restrictive drug policies often cause schizophrenic patients to discontinue medication

Policies requiring authorization before physicians can prescribe newer medications to schizophrenic patients may be counter-productive. According to a new study, patients in Maine’s Medicaid program who found themselves in this situation were 29% more likely to stop or disrupt medication use than patients not subject to the policy. In addition, although the policy was originally designed to cut costs, government savings were minimal at best. These findings are reported online in Health Affairs.