Foster Children: HHS Guidance Could Help States Improve Oversight of Psychotropic Prescriptions, GAO-12-270T

December 1, 2011 The report released by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examines the rates of psychotropic prescriptions of foster and non-foster children in 2008 and examines the state oversight of these prescriptions for foster children through October 2011. GAO found that in 2008 in the selected states analyzed, foster children were prescribed psychotropic drugs at higher rates than non-foster children in Medicaid. Additionally, hundreds of foster and non-foster children were found to be prescribed and using five or more psychotropic drugs even though no evidence supports this usage, thousands were prescribed doses higher than the maximum . . .