Clinical and financial outcomes associated with a proton pump inhibitor prior-authorization program in a Medicaid...

To examine the clinical and financial outcomes associated with a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) prior-authorization policy.

Interrupted time-series analyses of antisecretory prescription drug claims. Separate 6-month retrospective cohort analyses were conducted to estimate the clinical and financial effects of the policy.

More than 1.2 million Medicaid enrollees, with subgroup analyses of 5965 continuously eligible, potential antisecretory medication users. Measures included antisecretory drug expenditures, proportions of patients with at least 1 gastrointestinal diagnosis and gastrointestinal-related ambulatory and inpatient medical service visit, and subsequent gastrointestinal-related and total medical service expenditures.

There was a 90.9% decrease in PPI per-member-per-month expenditures and a 223.2% increase in histamine2-receptor antagonist (H2A) per-member-per-month expenditures in the month immediately following the implementation of the policy (P < .001 for both). A greater proportion (80.7%) of prior-authorization eligible enrollees who received a PPI had at least 1 diagnosis for a gastrointestinal condition than enrollees who received an H2A (64.1%) or no antisecretory drugs (48.4%) (P < .001 for both). Two-part, finite mixture regression analyses indicated that the enrollees who received an H2A or no antisecretory drugs were no more likely to have incurred greater total medical care expenditures than enrollees who received a PPI.

Prior authorization for PPIs had the effect of reducing use of high-cost PPIs, while encouraging use of lower costing H2As without evidence of adverse medical consequences.