It started with the high prescribing Miami alienist* (see end) who wrote 284,908 prescriptions over the past six years which cost
Florida taxpayers $43 million. See here: http://www.cchrflorida.org/
Newspapers in other states are now publishing articles on high prescribers in their own zone. (See below links for stories)
Now an Alabama newspaper is calling for their new Governor to force Alabama Medicaid to release psych drug data.
Quotes: "It is important because, as it turns out, some doctors are writing far more prescriptions for psychiatric drugs than are their colleagues. Not only does this add to the strain on Medicaid and Medicare, but it may indicate that some patients are being over-medicated. …Grassley, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, wrote to state Medicaid agencies earlier this year, asking them
to list their top 10 prescribers of eight drugs commonly used in psychiatry."
Alabama - Why are doctors writing so many prescriptions?
Connecticut
Pennsylvania
Arizona
West Virginia:
Minnesota:
*Alienist - psychiatrist
derivation: mid-19th century < French aliéniste < Latin alienare "estrange, make irrational"
(Encarta World English Dictionary)
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