State mental health policy: implementation of computerized medication prescribing algorithms in a community mental health system.

Milner KK, Healy D, Barry KL, Blow FC, Irmiter C, De Chavez P. State mental health policy: implementation of computerized medication prescribing algorithms in a community mental health system. Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.). 2009 Aug 1; 60(8):1010-2.

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Abstract:

This column describes a Michigan initiative to implement medication prescribing algorithms for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. The algorithms were incorporated into the electronic medical records system of a four-county community mental health system. Guideline adherence of 30 providers who treated nearly 3,000 patients was measured at mid- and endpoints of the first year. They were adherent for about a third of their patients in the first six months (32%) and more than half in the second (52%). Scores on scales measuring providers'' perceptions of algorithm ease of use and usefulness were in the midrange at both time points.