CMS paves way for pharmacists to help blunt metabolic effects of antipsychotics.

Abstract

Pharmacists at psychiatric hospitals are positioned to ensure compliance with a medication-related quality measure for patients taking antipsychotic drugs that will soon affect Medicare reimbursement rates. The “Screening for Metabolic Disorders” quality measure requires psychiatric hospitals to document the assessment of body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, blood glucose control, and lipid status within the past year for patients discharged with a prescription for an antipsychotic drug. Hospitals must report on the basis of numerical values, taken from patients’ charts, of the assessment results. Data from discharges during the second half of 2016 must be reported from July 1 through August 15 of this year and will affect reimbursement for fiscal year 2018, which begins October 1. A full year’s worth of discharge data must be analyzed for reimbursement determinations starting in fiscal year 2019. CMS requires psychiatric hospitals to document the testing for patients discharged on any FDA-approved, routinely administered antipsychotic maintenance medication. And hospitals must have the required data on all 4 elements for each patient to satisfy the requirements of the quality measure for that patient.