KS Senate Plays Doctor, Makes Health Decision for Mental Health Patients

The state of Kansas has made a decision to let outside agencies pause or delay the prescription of psychotropic drugs to patients and instead alter them with a state led metric in order to keep costs in check.

http://www.stjosephpost.com/...

Mental health drugs are different. Since 2002, state law has allowed Medicaid patients access to whatever behavioral health drugs their physician or psychiatrist sees fit to prescribe.

Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration wants to change that.

“What this all boils down to is money,” said David Wiebe, president of the Kansas Mental Health Coalition advocacy group and recently retired executive director of the Johnson County Mental Health Center.

“Our concern is, and always has been, that the best choice of drug therapy decisions are made between the prescriber and the consumer; not by someone who’s looking at a piece of paper somewhere saying, ‘No, you have to try this (drug) first because it’s cheaper,’” Wiebe said.

The state of Kansas contends that this move is to keep dangerous drugs out of the treatment of children with mental health issues; drugs that are often prescribed off-label and should be replaced with "other alternatives".