Minn. moves to limit psychotropic drugs for poor, foster children

Concerned by a sharp rise in the use of powerful psychiatric drugs for adolescents, Minnesota will start requiring doctors in many cases to begin using a state-funded consulting service before prescribing such medications for children.

Minn. moves to limit psychotropic drugs for poor, foster children

Doctor wrote 1,000 scripts/week

Since 2004, a Miami psychiatrist has prescribed almost 14 million pills to Medicaid patients at a cost to taxpayers of $43 million, a state agency says.

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Miami psychiatrist defends his record over prescriptions

A state senator said a Miami psychiatrist `should be a poster boy' for tougher enforcement, while the doctor says he's been unfairly targeted

Metabolic Tests Ignored in Medicaid Patients on Antipsychotics

Antipsychotic-induced metabolic disturbances receive little attention among Medicaid patients treated with second-generation drugs, according to an analysis of more than 100,000 cases.

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Brown Settles $21.3M Medi-Cal Fraud Suit

Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced Thursday a $21.3 million settlement with Schering-Plough Corporation, resolving allegations the company "deliberately inflated" the price of Albuterol and other drugs, causing California's Medicaid (Medi-Cal) program to overpay millions of dollars in pharmacy reimbursement.

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Poor Children Likelier to Get Antipsychotics

New federally financed drug research reveals a stark disparity: children covered by Medicaid are given powerful antipsychotic medicines at a rate four times higher than children whose parents have private insurance. And the Medicaid children are more likely to receive the drugs for less severe conditions than their middle-class counterparts, the data shows.

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