The American journal of managed care
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Review
An update on current treatment strategies and emerging agents for the management of schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia is a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder that has a significant impact on the functioning and quality of life of individuals affected by the disease. It affects 0.6% to 1.9% of individuals within the United States, and currently there is no cure. ⋯ To address these concerns, new research evaluating investigational therapies has been undertaken to examine novel treatment strategies. This review summarizes the schizophrenia treatment guidelines, current treatment strategies, and emerging agents for the management of schizophrenia.
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To develop and validate predictive models for imminent fracture risk in a Medicare population. ⋯ Recent fracture, older age, female sex, white race, falls, and antidepressant/antipsychotic/sedative hypnotic/muscle relaxant medications predict imminent fracture risk in an older-adult Medicare Advantage population. Imminent fracture risk can be assessed using 6 easily quantified factors.
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To examine whether mental health conditions, opioid use, and medication nonadherence are associated with inpatient and emergency department (ED) use among Medicare super-utilizers from medically underserved areas. ⋯ The study findings highlight the importance of improving medication adherence and addressing behavioral health needs in Medicare super-utilizers.
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Observational Study
A revised classification algorithm for assessing emergency department visit severity of populations.
Analyses of emergency department (ED) use require visit classification algorithms based on administrative data. Our objectives were to present an expanded and revised version of an existing algorithm and to use this tool to characterize patterns of ED use across US hospitals and within a large sample of health plan enrollees. ⋯ The updated NYU/JHU-EDA taxonomy appears to offer cogent retrospective inferences about population-level ED utilization.
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To examine differences in the out-of-pocket costs for common generic drugs used to treat chronic conditions when individuals used their Medicare prescription drug plan (PDP) or when purchased through Walmart's generic drug discount programs (GDDPs) from 2009 to 2017. ⋯ Although Medicare beneficiary out-of-pocket costs for commonly used generic drug prescriptions generally decreased over time, Medicare beneficiaries may still be paying more for the same drugs than they would through Walmart's GDDP. Increased generic drug price transparency, including enforcing bans on gag clauses, is needed to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries obtain drugs using the most affordable options.