Follow-Up Care for Children Prescribed ADHD Medication (ADD)

Percentage of children 6-12 years of age and newly dispensed a medication for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who had appropriate follow-up care. Two rates are reported.

a. Percentage of children who had one follow-up visit with a practitioner with prescribing authority during the 30-Day Initiation Phase.

b. Percentage of children who remained on ADHD medication for at least 210 days and who, in addition to the visit in the Initiation Phase, had at least two additional follow-up visits with a practitioner within 270 days (9 months) after the Initiation Phase ended.

Initial Population 1: Children 6-12 years of age who were dispensed an ADHD medication during the Intake Period and who had a visit during the measurement period.

Initial Population 2: Children 6-12 years of age who were dispensed an ADHD medication during the Intake Period and who remained on the medication for at least 210 days out of the 300 days following the IPSD, and who had a visit during the measurement period.

Equals Initial Population

Denominator Exclusion 1: Exclude patients diagnosed with narcolepsy at any point in their history or during the measurement period.

Exclude patients who had an acute inpatient stay with a principal diagnosis of mental health or substance abuse during the 30 days after the IPSD.

Exclude patients who were actively on an ADHD medication in the 120 days prior to the Index Prescription Start Date.

Exclude patients who were in hospice care during the measurement year.

Denominator Exclusion 2: Exclude patients diagnosed with narcolepsy at any point in their history or during the measurement period.

Exclude patients who had an acute inpatient stay with a principal diagnosis of mental health or substance abuse during the 300 days after the IPSD.

Exclude patients who were actively on an ADHD medication in the 120 days prior to the Index Prescription Start Date.

Exclude patients who were in hospice care during the measurement year.

Numerator 1: Patients who had at least one face-to-face visit with a practitioner with prescribing authority within 30 days after the IPSD.

Numerator 2: Patients who had at least one face-to-face visit with a practitioner with prescribing authority during the Initiation Phase, and at least two follow-up visits during the Continuation and Maintenance Phase. One of the two visits during the Continuation and Maintenance Phase may be a telephone visit with a practitioner.

Not Applicable

None

Higher score indicates better quality

CUMULATIVE MEDICATION DURATION is an individual's total number of medication days over a specific period; the period counts multiple prescriptions with gaps in between, but does not count the gaps during which a medication was not dispensed.

To determine the cumulative medication duration, determine first the number of the medication Days for each prescription in the period: the number of doses divided by the dose frequency per day. Then add the Medication Days for each prescription without counting any days between the prescriptions.

For example, there is an original prescription for 30 days with 2 refills for thirty days each. After a gap of 3 months, the medication was prescribed again for 60 days with 1 refill for 60 days. The cumulative medication duration is (30 x 3) + (60 x 2) = 210 days over the 10 month period.