Medicare Part D is the single most significant mental health policy initiative to have been undertaken in the last decade. We think it would be extremely helpful to have a sense of how this is actually impacting our patients and practitioners. The only way of systematically assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the new program is a survey that would get a representative sample of the experiences our patients are having. |
The take-home message from these studies is that we have treatment that is effective and that the risk from depression is far greater than the risk of treatment. |
What the FDA initiated was in some ways a natural experiment. This is the kind of rigorous scientific information the FDA should consider in evaluating its decisions. |