Nearly 2,000 0 to 5 year olds in Connecticut Medicaid on Psych Drugs & Oversight Council Is Clueless
2024/05/09
According to data recently received from the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a psychiatric watchdog organization, there are nearly 2,000 0-to 5 years olds taking psychiatric anti-anxiety drugs in the State of Connecticut. Despite this stunning data, during the most recent Connecticut Behavioral Health Partnership Oversight Council (BHPOC) meeting that oversees the massive mental health system in the State of Connecticut, co-chair, Terri DiPietro, claimed that oversight of the number of children in Medicaid taking prescribed psychiatric mind-altering drugs is not part of the Council’s mission.
In fact, it appears that none of the concerns regarding psychiatric behavioral health drug use is part of the council’s oversight even though the State of Connecticut passed Public Act 0124 approved June 28, 2001, which was intended to ensure this important drug information was part of the oversight.
One can only assume that the BHPOC apparently sees its role as a body that has been created to advocate for the pharmaceutical and behavioral health industry by removing any barriers that may stand in the way of providing mental health “treatment” which more often than not includes psychiatric drugs. DiPietro explained to AbleChild that, “the charge of BHPOC is to oversee and make recommendations. We are not a regulatory body.”
Great. Nobody said the Council was a regulatory body. But, it makes recommendations and according to the Council’s mission statement it is responsible for the following:
- Expansion of individualized, family-centered, community-based services;
- Maximization of federal revenue to fund behavioral health services;
- Reduction in the unnecessary use of institutional and residential services for children;
- Capture and investment of enhanced federal revenue and savings derived from reduced residential services and increased community-based services;
- Improved administrative oversight and efficiencies; and
- Monitoring of individual outcomes, provider performance, taking into consideration the acuity of the patients served by each provider, and overall program performance.
Clearly given the above instructions, it would appear that knowing how many Medicaid recipients are on prescribed psychiatric drugs would be helpful and by not obtaining that information the Council is not fulfilling its stated mission.
The Council’s mission is clear to provide oversight and its complete mission can be found here. How it can possibly provide responsible oversight without considering the number of Connecticut children taking psychiatric drugs is difficult if not impossible.
Consider the following data. According to a freedom of information request by CCHR, 1,945 0 to 5-year-olds were placed on psychiatric drugs and anti-anxiety meds as the drug of choice in 2023. However, the total number of 0-5 year olds on all psychiatric drugs within the Medicaid program cost the state more than $760,000 in 2023 alone. According to the FDA, even taken as prescribed, psychiatric drugs are linked to addiction, not to mention the black box suicide warnings associated with all antidepressants, which is the strongest warning placed on a product before the FDA pulls it from the market. The data provided below reveals that the State of Connecticut has a dangerous and expensive psychiatric drug program for children on Medicaid and this data does not include all children in the state…just those on Medicaid.
The following breakdown of children in the State of Connecticut can be found below for years 2022 and 2023. This important data appears to have escaped the oversight Council. What is the Council’s responsibility to the citizens of Connecticut? How can it responsibly make behavioral health decisions and fulfill its mission statement if it is clueless about psychiatric drug use within the mental health system. It is time for the Council to meet its obligation or turn the responsibility over to an organization that can.
