Magellan Approves Guidelines for Treatment of Schizophrenia
Magellan recently reviewed and re-adopted the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients with Schizophrenia, Second Edition and also adopted the Texas Implementation of Medication Algorithms (TIMA) Physician’s Manual: Schizophrenia.
You can find links to the guidelines and Magellan’s Introduction to the Clinical Practice Guidelines on this website, under “Clinical Guidelines” under the “Providing Care” top-menu item.
Guidelines Incorporate Developments in Pharmacotherapy
These two guidelines incorporate the evolving developments in pharmacotherapy, as well as developments in other areas of psychiatric management of individuals with schizophrenia. The APA revision is a comprehensive evidence-based document that covers areas of the psychiatric management of patients with this disorder, from understanding the clinical features and epidemiology, to treatment approaches and planning.
The TIMA Physician’s Manual contributes the three elements recommended by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) Medication Management Toolkit:
- The most recently updated medication algorithms
- Standardized objective assessment tools
- Standardized medical record documentation forms.
The medication recommendations within the TIMA algorithm are compatible with the APA recommendations.
Additional Recommendations Based on Recent Literature Review
The APA guideline is based on a literature review through 2002. The TIMA algorithm had its last major revision in January 2003. Magellan conducted a further review of the clinical literature on the assessment and treatment of schizophrenia published through October 2007. Key relevant recommendations from this more recent literature review are summarized in the Introduction to Magellan’s Adopted Clinical Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Schizophrenia (PDF). We encourage you to be familiar with this information, as well as the information in both guidelines.
View Details of Findings Highlighted in Magellan’s Introduction to the CPG
Magellan’s CPGs
Magellan’s adoption of APA CPGs is intended to reduce the administrative burden on our network clinicians, who may serve on multiple managed care panels and thus be required to learn and use several guidelines for one disorder. Also, the APA guidelines typically contain thorough introductions to, and evidence-based clinical updates in, the assessment and treatment of psychiatric disorders.
Magellan encourages you to become familiar with all Magellan CPGs. As with clinical guidelines in general, Magellan’s adopted guidelines are intended to augment, not replace, sound clinical judgment.
We welcome feedback on our CPGs. Submit your comments to your local Magellan medical director or to Kathleen Frampton at kkframpton@MagellanHealth.com.