Choosing wisely? Quantifying the extent of three low value psychotropic prescribing practices in Australia.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The global Choosing Wisely campaign has identified the following psychotropic prescribing as low-value (harmful or wasteful): (1) benzodiazepine use in the elderly, (2) antipsychotic use in dementia and (3) prescribing two or more antipsychotics concurrently. We aimed to quantify the extent of these prescribing practices in the Australian population.

Methods

We applied indicators to dispensing claims of a 10% random sample of Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme beneficiaries to quantify annual rates of each low-value practice from 2013 to 2016. We also assessed patient factors and direct medicine costs (extrapolated to the entire Australian population) associated with each practice in 2016.

Results

We observed little change in the rates of the three p

SUBMITTER: Brett J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6310957 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature