Potential cost savings from pill splitting of newer psychotropic medications

Many of the newer psychotropic medications have a pricing structure in whic h there are only small cost differences between pills of different strength s, affording an opportunity for cost saving by splitting pills twelve newer psychotropic medications were examined. Although savings varied for each d rug, aggregate data indicated that splitting pills can produce an annual sa vings of up to $1.45 billion, which represents about 10 percent of the reta il sales of these drugs, Such savings can benefit individuals, state Medica id programs, community mental health centers, and managed care companies,Th e authors propose several strategies for encouraging the use of pill splitt ing.