Aim: To assess impact of initial treatment and time-dependent treatment with paliperidone palmitate (PP) versus oral atypical antipsychotics (OAAs) on healthcare resource utilization and costs.
Patients & methods: A retrospective longitudinal study was conducted among Medicaid beneficiaries with schizophrenia. Inverse probability treatment weighting method and marginal structural models were used to estimate the impact of treatment on healthcare resource utilization and costs, respectively.
Results: Compared to OAAs, PP was associated with lower medical costs (mean monthly cost difference [MMCD] = -US$256; p = 0.008), which offset the higher pharmacy expense (MMCD = US$122; p < 0.001) resulting in nonsignificant cost savings associated with PP (MMCD = -US$91; p = 0.689).
Conclusion: PP was associated with comparable overall costs to OAAs, but with significantly lower medical costs, particularly attributable to reduced inpatient visits and long-term care admissions.
Keywords: Medicaid; cost; healthcare resource utilization; inverse probability treatment weighting; marginal structural model; oral atypical antipsychotics; paliperidone palmitate; schizophrenia.