Emergency Use 60% Higher Among Consumers With Schizophrenia & Not Taking Antipsychotics As Directed

North Carolina Medicaid beneficiaries diagnosed with schizophrenia who failed to take antipsychotic medications as directed had 60% more emergency department visits for medical concerns than beneficiaries with schizophrenia who took antipsychotics as directed. The relationship between adherence and psychiatric emergency department use was small and not statistically significant.

These findings were reported in “Antipsychotic Adherence And Emergency Department Utilization Among Patients With Schizophrenia” by Morgan Hardy, Carlos Jackson, and Jennie Byrne. The researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study with claims and pharmacy data from 7,851 adult North Carolina Medicaid beneficiaries diagnosed with schizophrenia who were enrolled in Community Care . . .