%0 Journal Article
%T Retrospective study investigating naloxone prescribing and cost in US Medicaid and Medicare patients.
%A Manko CD
%A Ahmed MS
%A Harrison LR
%A Kodavatiganti SA
%A Lugo N
%A Konadu JO
%A Khan F
%A Massari CA
%A Sealey TK
%A Addison ME
%A Mbah CN
%A McCall KL
%A Fraiman JB
%A Piper BJ
%J BMJ Open
%V 14
%N 5
%D 2024 May 1
%M 38692729
%F 3.006
%R 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-078592
%X <B>BACKGROUND: </B>Opioid overdoses in the USA have increased to unprecedented levels. Administration of the opioid antagonist naloxone can prevent overdoses.<BR><B>OBJECTIVE: </B>This study was conducted to reveal the pharmacoepidemiologic patterns in naloxone prescribing to Medicaid patients from 2018 to 2021 as well as Medicare in 2019.<BR><B>METHODS: </B>Observational pharmacoepidemiologic study SETTING: US Medicare and Medicaid naloxone claims INTERVENTION: The Medicaid State Drug Utilisation Data File was utilised to extract information on the number of prescriptions and the amount prescribed of naloxone at a national and state level. The Medicare Provider Utilisation and Payment was also utilised to analyse prescription data from 2019.<BR><B>METHODS: </B>States with naloxone prescription rates that were outliers of quartile analysis were noted.<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>The number of generic naloxone prescriptions per 100 000 Medicaid enrollees decreased by 5.3%, whereas brand naloxone prescriptions increased by 245.1% from 2018 to 2021. There was a 33.1-fold difference in prescriptions between the highest (New Mexico=1809.5) and lowest (South Dakota=54.6) states in 2019. Medicare saw a 30.4-fold difference in prescriptions between the highest (New Mexico) and lowest states (also South Dakota) after correcting per 100 000 enrollees.<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>This pronounced increase in the number of naloxone prescriptions to Medicaid patients from 2018 to 2021 indicates a national response to this widespread public health emergency. Further research into the origins of the pronounced state-level disparities is warranted.