title: Managing psychotropic drug costs: will formularies work?
abstract: Payers of pharmaceutical benefits are increasingly turning to drug formularies in an attempt to control rising pharmacy costs, including those for psychotropic drugs. In this paper I examine several issues that policymakers should consider when addressing formulary design for psychotropic drugs: heterogeneity within mental health disorders and limited information about treatment effectiveness for individual patients; the potential for plans to try to use formularies to avoid adverse selection and implications for psychotropic coverage; the interaction of Medicaid formulary policy and manufacturers' incentives for psychotropic innovation; and incentives created by mental health institutions that decrease formularies' potential effectiveness in controlling psychotropic drug costs.
mesh_terms: D003363:Cost Control / Q000379:methods; D016527:Drug Costs / Q000639:trends; D004345:Drug Industry; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000191:economics*; D005569:Formularies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007356:Insurance, Pharmaceutical Services; D008484:Medicaid; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000145:classification / Q000191:economics*; D012052:Reimbursement, Incentive; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D011619:Psychotropic Drugs