Council, Other Advocates Oppose Legislation to Take Mental Illness, Epilepsy Off State's Preferred Drug List 

The Council joined nearly 20 other organizations to ask lawmakers to stop House Bills 4733 and 4757 at a Capitol news conference on Thursday, contending that the bills--which would remove mental illness and epilepsy from the state's preferred drug list--won't save the state any money and put consumers at risk.

This change would, in effect, require patients to fail on generic medications before Mediciad would cover the cost of a brand-name drug with no generic equivalent.

"Lawmakers have been fighting to keep these conditions on the 'protected' list for seven years, despite multiple attempts by DCH for repeal, because it saves money in the long run," said Linda Burghardt, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. "There is no evidence whatsoever that the list isn't working and the fact that the department can't explain how it came up with its latest guesstimate on savings indicates it's merely wishful thinking."

The risk to consumers is the great variation in patient response to neuropsychiatric medications, which means it can take a long period of time to find the most effective one. The legislation is also unnecessary, since four major mental health drugs (Zyprexa, Geodon, Lexapro and Seroquel) will lose their patent exclusivity in the next nine months and generic substitutions will become available.  

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NIHCM Expands Effort to Build MCH Infrastructure, Capacity in Health Plans

The National Institute for Health Care Management (NIHCM) Foundation has launched a new Promising Practices in Maternal and Child Health Program to recognize emerging and promising programs or policies in MCH, promote program replication and new collaborations, and create a dedicated space where health plans and other MCH leaders can share their success stories with peers.

Through the new project, NIHCM has joined eight other national professional organizations, including the Academy of Pediatrics, the American Bar Association, the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, Family Voices, Grantmakers in Health, the National Association of County and City Health Officials, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the National Governors Association, in helping members make well-informed decisions on matters impacting the health and health care of mothers and children.

On a quarterly basis, one promising practices submission will be selected and highlighted in a fact sheet designed and produced by NIHCM. More information about NIHCM's program, including how to submit a promising practice, is available here.

The program's inaugural fact sheet, Partnering to Promote Healthy Babies, provides an overview of the text4baby mobile service, including examples of the role of health plans in promotion, enrollment, evaluation, expansion, and outreach. The fact sheet is available here.  

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