Category: Federal Forum Posters
Purpose: Clozapine is an antipsychotic with efficacy in treatment refractory schizophrenia, which is estimated to be 20-30% of patients with schizophrenia. Numerous studies have shown that clozapine is underutilized, with a prescription rate of 5% in US Medicaid patients. National VA specific clozapine prescribing trends have not been assessed. The primary objective is to examine past and current national VA prescribing rates of clozapine in patients with treatment refractory schizophrenia. The primary endpoint is the number of patients prescribed clozapine for treatment refractory schizophrenia annually.The secondary objective is to evaluate the impact of various factors on VA prescribing rates of clozapine.
Methods: This retrospective study will utilize de-identified data supplied by the National Clozapine Coordinating Center (NCCC). The NCCC regulates all clozapine used within the VA healthcare system and tracks the number of patients prescribed clozapine annually. The NCCC will provide the number of clozapine patients and the indication for which they received clozapine approval, across time and across VA facilities. This project will focus on the patients identified by the NCCC with schizophrenia, defined as Diagnostic and Statistical Manual code 295 (DSM 295). The total number of patients with DSM 295 code across all VA facilities for the time period corresponding to the data provided by NCCC will be obtained through the VA Central Data Warehouse (CDW). Details about the VA facilities, such as the designation as a teaching facility, the number of psychiatrists employed, and the presence of a psychiatric clinical pharmacy specialist, PGY-2 psychiatric pharmacy residency, clozapine clinic, and a clozapine treatment coordinator will also be collected. The geographic location and size of each VA facility included on the list from NCCC will be documented as well.
Results: Not applicable
Conclusion: Not applicable
Paige Sinclair
– PGY2 Psychiatric Pharmacy Resident, VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System, Berea, OH143 Views