8% Of Texas Medicaid Children & 35% Of Foster Children Prescribed Psychotropics

Among children enrolled in one of two Texas Medicaid managed care organizations serving the southeast region of the state, about 35% of children in foster care and 8% of other children filled a prescription for a psychotropic medication. Across six drug classes, the prevalence of psychotropic medication use is 2 to 27 times higher among children in foster care as compared to non-foster children in Medicaid. Drug classes included in the study were alpha agonists, anxiolytics, antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and stimulants.

Prescriptions were filled for a mean of 2.8 distinct drug classes for children in foster care . . .