Association Between Persistence with Oral Atypical Antipsychotic Medications and Hospital and Emergency Department Utilization in Medicaid Patients with Schizophrenia.

Purpose: To examine 1-year persistence with oral atypical antipsychotics (OAAPs) for Medicaid patients with schizophrenia and assess the association between OAAP persistence and hospital and emergency department (ED) resource utilization.

Patients And Methods: Using 2016-2020 multi-state Medicaid claims data, this retrospective study followed patients diagnosed with schizophrenia for 12 months after initiating OAAP therapy. Patients started on an OAAP with no evidence of antipsychotic use in the previous 6 months were included if they had a diagnosis of schizophrenia, were not dually enrolled in Medicaid and Medicare, did not switch to a long-acting injectable antipsychotic, and were continuously eligible 6 months before and 12 months after the initial OAAP prescription (index date). OAAP persistence was measured allowing for a <60-day gap. All-cause and schizophrenia-related inpatient and emergency department (ED) resource utilization during the follow-up period were compared between OAAP persistent and non-persistent groups.

Results: The study sample of 13,007 had an average age of 39.1 years and 57.0% were male. Patients were persistent with their index OAAP for 135 days on average and 73.1% had a ≥60-day gap in antipsychotic therapy post-index. While 32.8% and 28.6% of patients who did not persist with their index OAAP restarted the index OAAP or switched to a different OAAP medication later in the year, respectively, a larger proportion (38.6%) had no further OAAP prescriptions. After adjustment for demographic and clinical variables, compared to non-persistent patients, persisting with OAAPs was significantly associated with fewer all-cause and schizophrenia-related hospitalizations (Incidence Rate Ratio [IRR]=0.742, p<0.001; IRR=0.823, p<0.001; respectively) and ED visits (IRR=0.759, p<0.001; IRR=0.773, p<0.001; respectively).

Conclusion: Non-persistence with OAAP medication is common among patients with schizophrenia and associated with negative outcomes including increased utilization of hospital and ED resources. Patient-centered interventions that improve antipsychotic persistence should be implemented to facilitate optimal outcomes in this population.