The Bipolar Child: Mass. Monitors Meds

Fascinating piece in yesterday's Boston Globe about how the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is combing records from its state Medicaid program, plucking out all the kids on a certain unnamed antipsychotic (I assume it's Zyprexa) and the kids on more than three psych meds. The justification is that the state is footing the bill for this and there have been some bad outcomes for youngsters on these drugs, so it's time for the state to have a look-see. So far the cases of about three dozen kids have led to the state asking questions of the doctors involved out of about 500 kids the state found on some serious psych meds. This is a first in the nation experiment, which I hope spreads, especially since the state may in some cases measure the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in some kids by interviewing school teachers and such and seeing if the diagnosis dovetails with emotional and behavioral reality.

Gee, I wonder how many patients from Biederman and Wozniak's practice they might ask about. The Globe which is doing smart work on these issues should ask for the data and get the doctors names, and ask some questions of its own. Stephany at soulful sepulcher also has some questions to ask.