According to the National Committee for Quality Assurance, antipsychotic prescribing for children and adolescents has increased rapidly in recent decades. These medications can elevate a child’s risk for developing serious metabolic health complications associated with poor cardiometabolic outcomes in adulthood. Given these risks and the potential lifelong consequences, metabolic monitoring (blood glucose and cholesterol testing) is an important component of ensuring appropriate management of children and adolescents on antipsychotic medications.
Supporting Quality Care
We track the NCQA quality measure Metabolic Monitoring for Children and Adolescents on Antipsychotics. This measure captures the percentage of children ages 1 to 17 who had two or more antipsychotic prescriptions and had metabolic testing. Three rates are reported:
- Blood glucose testing
- Cholesterol testing
- Blood glucose and cholesterol testing
A higher rate represents more proper testing, which indicates better performance.
APM is a Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) measure. See the NCQA website for more details.
Resources
- For tips to close gaps in care for this measure, see our tip sheet.
- BCBSTX preventive care guidelines on immunization schedules
- Texas Immunization Registry ImmTrac2
- For Medicaid provider Quality Improvement Toolkits and Tip Sheets
- For Medicaid Provider Texas Health Steps
The above material is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for the independent medical judgment of a physician or other health care provider. Physicians and other health care providers are encouraged to use their own medical judgment based upon all available information and the condition of the patient in determining the appropriate course of treatment. The fact that a service or treatment is described in this material, is not a guarantee that the service or treatment is a covered benefit and members should refer to their certificate of coverage for more details, including benefits, limitations and exclusions. Regardless of benefits, the final decision about any service or treatment is between the member and their health care provider.
HEDIS is a registered trademark of NCQA. Use of this resource is subject to NCQA’s copyright, found here. The NCQA HEDIS measure specification has been adjusted pursuant to NCQA’s Rules for Allowable Adjustments of HEDIS. The adjusted measure specification may be used only for quality improvement purposes.