Beacon Health Strategies Introduces New Psychotropic Drug Intervention Program

Woburn, MA Beacon Health Strategies (Beacon), a leading URAC and NCQA accredited managed behavioral health organization, is now offering a new service to assist health plan purchasers ensure that psychotropic drugs are prescribed appropriately and in a cost-effective manner.

Designed to improve member outcomes, provide timely access to relevant clinical information and ensure efficient use of limited resources, Beacon’s Psychotropic Drug Intervention Program (PDIP) works to change providers’ prescribing patterns through engaging and educating providers about best practices.

“Customers who employ Beacon’s PDIP will benefit by having an expert partner actively identifying inappropriate prescribing or usage of psychotropic drugs which can result in poor clinical outcomes and negatively impact cost,” said Beacon President Timothy Murphy. Murphy went on to say, “With psychotropic drug costs representing a significant portion of total behavioral health care expenditures coupled with 30% plus annual cost increases for certain psychotropic medications, effective health plan management of psychotropic drugs is imperative.”

The comprehensive Psychotropic Drug Intervention Program utilizes Beacon's proprietary FlexCare Behavioral Health Management System to perform rigorous analysis of regularly supplied health plan pharmacy data. Through this analysis, cases of sub-optimal dosing, non-evidence based polypharmacy, multiple prescriber involvement and other outlier practices are identified for intervention. Based on the unique characteristics of each case, Beacon's PDIP Team employs strategies to improve a member’s health outcomes, facilitate information exchange amongst clinicians and better control psychotropic drug expenditures.

“Numerous studies indicate that a significant portion of prescriptions for psychotropic medications are prescribed by non specialists. With our PDIP fully implemented, we are able to consistently monitor the prescribing patterns of caregivers and provide an enhanced level of engagement and education to prescribers,” said Christine Degan, RN, MA, Vice President, Clinical and Quality Management, Beacon Health Strategies.

Founded in 1996, Beacon Health Strategies is a leader in behavioral health care management with an unequaled reputation for customizing solutions that meet customer’s unique needs in the most cost-effective manner. The Company is URAC and NCQA accredited and believes that a new standard of clinical, quality and customer service is achievable. Beacon's expertise and ability to execute innovative service delivery systems in complex environments differentiate Beacon from other managed behavioral health organizations. Beacon is a privately held founder led company.