Mental healthcare utilisation by patients before and after receiving paliperidone palmitate treatment: mirror image analyses

OBJECTIVES: To compare mental healthcare use and healthcare professional (HCP) contacts for patients before and after initiation of paliperidone palmitate. SETTING: The South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLAM) Biomedical Research Centre Clinical Record Interactive Search. PARTICIPANTS: We identified all adults with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision: F20.x), who had received paliperidone palmitate prescription for at least 365 days and had at least 1 year of recorded treatment from SLAM, prior to the first recorded receipt of paliperidone palmitate. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Inpatient and community mental healthcare service use, such as inpatient bed days, number of active days in the service, face-to-face and telephone HCP use in the 12 months before and after paliperidone palmitate initiation. RESULTS: We identified 664 patients initiated on paliperidone palmitate. Following initiation, inpatient bed days were lower, although patients remained active on the service case load longer for both mirror approach 1 (mean difference of inpatient bed days −10.48 (95% CI −15.75 to −5.22); days active 40.67 (95% CI 33.39 to 47.95)) and mirror approach 2 (mean difference of inpatient bed days −23.96 (95% CI −30.01 to −17.92); mean difference of days active 40.69 (95% CI 33.39 to 47.94)). The postinitiation period was further characterised by fewer face-to-face and telephone contacts with medical and social work HCPs, and an increased contact with clinical psychologists. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate a change in the profile of HCP use, consistent with a transition from treatment to possible rehabilitation.