title: How quickly do physicians adopt new drugs? The case of second-generation antipsychotics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The authors examined physician adoption of second-generation antipsychotic medications and identified physician-level factors associated with early adoption.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors estimated Cox proportional-hazards models of time to adoption of nine second-generation antipsychotics by 30,369 physicians who prescribed antipsychotics between 1996 and 2008, when the drugs were first introduced, and analyzed the total number of agents prescribed during that time. The models were adjusted for physicians' specialty, demographic characteristics, education and training, practice setting, and prescribing volume. Data were from IMS Xponent, which captures over 70% of all prescriptions filled in the United States, and the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On average, physicians waited two or more years before prescribing new second-generation antipsychotics, but there was substantial heterogeneity across products in time to adoption. General practitioners were much slower than psychiatrists to adopt second-generation antipsychotics (hazard ratios (HRs) range .10-.35), and solo practitioners were slower than group practitioners to adopt most products (HR range .77-.89). Physicians with the highest antipsychotic-prescribing volume adopted second-generation antipsychotics much faster than physicians with the lowest volume (HR range .15-.39). Psychiatrists tended to prescribe a broader set of antipsychotics (median=6) than general practitioners and neurologists (median=2) and pediatricians (median=1).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As policy makers search for ways to control rapid health spending growth, understanding the factors that influence physician adoption of new medications will be crucial in the efforts to maximize the value of care received by individuals with mental disorders as well as to improve medication safety.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, 180 Longwood Ave., Boston, MA 02115, USA. huskamp@hcp.med.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Haiden A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Huskamp
authors.forename: A James
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: O'Malley
authors.forename: Marcela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Horvitz-Lennon
authors.forename: Anna Levine
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Taub
authors.forename: Ernst R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Berndt
authors.forename: Julie M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Donohue
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004363:Drug Utilization; D005260:Female; D058006:General Practice / Q000379:methods; D006123:Group Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009462:Neurology / Q000379:methods; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000379:methods; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000379:methods; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents