HP0488
LD 716
Session - 126th Maine Legislature
C "A", Filing Number H-368, Sponsored by
LR 1156
Item 2
Bill Tracking, Additional Documents Chamber Status

Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following:

‘Resolve, To Review and Make Recommendations on Appropriate Prescribing of Certain Medications for Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder That Are Reimbursed under the MaineCare Program’

Amend the bill by striking out everything after the title and before the summary and inserting the following:

Sec. 1. Department of Health and Human Services work group. Resolved: That the Commissioner of Health and Human Services shall convene a work group to review and make recommendations on appropriate prescribing of certain medications for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The review must focus on stimulants and other medications with an indication from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, United States Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and on their reimbursement through the MaineCare program.

1. The tasks of the work group include, but are not limited to, the following:

A. Gathering and reviewing data on the use of stimulant medications in children, including the diagnoses for which the drugs are prescribed and typical lengths of time that children receiving services from the Department of Health and Human Services or Child Development Services System through the Department of Education or the MaineCare program are prescribed stimulant medications;
B. Comparing the use of stimulant medications in the MaineCare and non-MaineCare populations and the costs of those medications;
C. Reviewing approaches that support prescribers in achieving evidence-based prescribing and monitoring practices, including academic detailing and telemedicine, and the work being done by the child psychiatry access program and the consultation project of the Maine Academy of Family Physicians and the Maine Association of Psychiatric Physicians;
D. Identifying methods of reimbursement and sources of funding, including grant funding and federal funding, to increase access to psychiatric services and reduce barriers to services; and
E. Making any recommendations for improvements in access to behavioral health and psychiatric services and in prescribing practices as determined to be appropriate by the work group.

2. The commissioner shall appoint as chair the person who serves as chair of the psychiatric work group of the MaineCare drug utilization review committee. The chair shall appoint the members. The work group must include key state employees, including representatives of the office within the Department of Health and Human Services providing MaineCare services and private sector stakeholders. The chair shall seek members of the public who are interested in the subject matter of the work group and members from the following entities and organizations: Goold Health Systems, the Maine Association of Psychiatric Physicians, the Maine Council on Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the Maine Psychological Association, the Maine Children's Alliance, the Maine Developmental Disabilities Council and the academic detailing advisory committee convened by the Maine Medical Association and the Department of Health and Human Services. The chair shall notify members of the Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services of the location, date and time of each meeting so that members may attend voluntarily and without reimbursement. The Department of Health and Human Services shall fund the work of the work group from within existing resources.

3. The Department of Health and Human Services shall report on the findings and recommendations of the work group by January 15, 2014 to the Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services.’

SUMMARY

This amendment replaces the bill with a resolve and changes the title. The amendment establishes a work group to review the use of certain medications prescribed to children for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and reimbursed through the MaineCare program and to make any recommendations for improvements in access to behavioral health and psychiatric services and for improvements in prescribing practices as determined to be appropriate by the work group. The amendment directs the Department of Health and Human Services to report its findings and recommendations to the Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services not later than January 15, 2014.


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