Objective: This study compares nurse practitioner (NP) and physician (MD/DO) prescribing patterns for treatment of children with an attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-related diagnosis covered by Oregon Medicaid from 2012 to 2013.
Methods: This study is a limited data set review of Oregon pharmacy claims for youth aged 3-18 at time of prescription fill, who were continuously enrolled for at least 10 months of the index year. Claims with selected ICD-9 codes (n = 197,364) were further defined by 30-day prescriptions and prescription drug events (PDE) linked to each prescriber type of interest. Descriptive statistical analysis of variables included prescriber type (NP vs. physician) and specialty (generalist vs. specialist), child age, and controlled versus noncontrolled drug type.
Results: A total of 82,754 complete 30-day prescriptions for 10,753 children from 1785 unique prescribers (78 NP specialists; 303 NP generalists; 162 physician specialists; and 1242 physician generalist prescribers) and 16,669 PDE were analyzed. Physicians prescribed more than 81% of all ADHD medications, and physician generalists prescribed nearly 60% of all prescriptions. Sixty-four percent of 30-day supply prescriptions (n = 52,678) were controlled substances. Generalists, both NPs and physician prescribers, prescribed controlled medications more often than specialists. Physician specialists consistently prescribed controlled substances for all age groups, while NP specialists prescribed more controlled substances as child age increased. Rates of controlled medications prescribed generally increased, as children got older, regardless of provider type.
Conclusion: NPs overall prescribe in a similar pattern to physicians when given the authority to prescribe controlled substances for ADHD. Comparisons between prescriber types for controlled substance prescribing by age should be explored further to identify possible variance from national guidelines.