Oklahoma Health Plan for Mentally Ill Reverses Decision To Cut Two Expensive Antipsychotic Drugs
Heartland Health Plan of Oklahoma, an insurer that contracts with Oklahoma to provide care for people with severe mental illnesses, last week notified the state drug review board that it will retract a plan that would have curtailed use of Zyprexa and Geodon, two new antipsychotic drugs, the Daily Oklahoman reports. The board was expected this week to consider a request by the insurer that the drugs not be prescribed unless other medications failed. But after a meeting with advocacy groups, Heartland decided to drop the plan. Heartland spokesperson Mark Clark said, "They felt the need to look into this further. We feel really good about the dialogue; we felt better when this was not an adversarial relationship." In deciding to curb the plan, the company first considered "whether patients would have access to the array of drugs they need" and then considered the cost of the drugs, Clark said. Under the company's new policy, current beneficiaries will still have access to the medications, but new beneficiaries will not. The company's reversal still left some advocates concerned that it would reprise its request to end coverage of the medications altogether. Jo Hill, founding director of the Oklahoma Mental Health Consumer Council, said, "What I can't understand, if they were so sure this cost savings was necessary, why did they bow out so readily?" (Hinton, Daily Oklahoman, 8/15).
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