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Six mental health drugs join Medicaid preferred-brands list

By Times Staff
Published September 13, 2005

People on the Medicaid program can now get prescriptions for several mental health drugs without special authorization, state officials said Monday.

The antipsychotic drug Zyprexa, which was singled out by mental health advocates as a drug that should be accessible for schizophrenics, is among those added to Medicaid's list of preferred drugs.

The other drugs added Monday are Depakote ER, Keppra, Lamictal, Trileptal and Zonegran.

Officials at the Agency for Health Care Administration said they were able to add the drugs to the list after reaching discount agreements with the drugs' manufacturers.

Patients can get drugs that are not on the preferred list, but only if their doctor wins an appeal from AHCA, agreeing that the patient has tried other drugs to treat the disorder without success.

[Last modified September 13, 2005, 05:01:38]