A Cure for Overmedicating Kids
43% of PA children in foster care prescribed psychiatric drugs–more than 3X the rate of other low income children on Medicaid
Too often, kids demonstrating behavioral issues because of a traumatic experience just get what’s easy or available. Too often, it’s a label and a pill. But it’s never quite as simple as that. A report last year from CHOP’s PolicyLab examined the overmedication of children in foster care.
Typically kids in foster care, ages 6-18, were found to be prescribed psychiatric medication THREE TIMES more frequently than kids of the same age enrolled in Medicaid in 2012 in Pennsylvania. This finding was consistent with other reports and indicators across the country, including a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office that showed kids in foster care were prescribed psychiatric drugs at double or quadruple the rate of those not in foster care.
“[Talk therapy] helped me understand that what I was feeling was because of the situations I went through and not because there’s all these things wrong with me,” one young person told NPR in September. Although she had been experiencing flashbacks of traumatic events, she received meds for hearing voices, leaving her sedated and not dealing with her problems. It was talking, not drugging, that helped.
While only 16% of kids enrolled in Medicaid received psychiatric drugs, 43% of kids in foster care got those same medications. And a stunning 22% of children in foster care were taking powerful antipsychotic drugs even though a third of those children were diagnosed as having attention deficit disorder, according to PolicyLab.
There is some good news, however. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania responded to the PolicyLab findings and directed its fee-for-service providers to reduce their over-prescribing practices. And it worked. In the last two years, among those children covered under fee-for-service there was a 75% reduction of the use of psychiatric drugs. The dramatic reduction was a result of simply requiring health providers to check in with DHS before prescribing psychiatric medication.
PA Department of Human Services Secretary Ted Dallas decried the practice of over-prescribing medication to children in foster care, saying it compounds the trauma they experienced.
But since only 2% of all children in foster care receive their health care in the state’s fee-for-service system the state must do more to reduce the number of overmedicated children. Policies must be put in place to make the same progress in the managed care system where 98% of the children are treated.
You made education the top election issue in the Commonwealth! MARCH 8: Join PCCY’s first Capitol Caravan of 2016 to tell our legislators they need to pass the education budget Pennsylvania desperately needs. Contact Shirlee Howe: 215-563-5848 x34
Emails reveal Michigan Governor’s inner circle urged change a year before state officials switched off Flint’s lead-contaminated water supply, according to Detroit News. But Philadelphia Magazine reports “Philly has a huge lead problem, too”.
Did you know that tooth decay is the most common chronic health condition for kids? March 22-25: PCCY’s Smile Day event provides free dental care for hundreds of children in the region.
“At PolicyLab we believe that producing academic literature is not sufficient. In order to have an impact, you have to do things. An evidence-to-action mission means you have to get on the train and go to Harrisburg and DC, and that’s what we do.” Kathleen Noonan, co-founder and co-director of CHOP’s PolicyLab, and PCCY board member.