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Untreated behavioral health conditions among the perinatal population are associated with high mortality and morbidity. We examined trends of behavioral health conditions and treatment received by perinatal Medicaid beneficiaries and described the characteristics of providers treat-ing these beneficiaries from 2017 to 2022. Results indicated that 24.4% of beneficiaries had a behav-ioral health diagnosis, 13.8% received a psycho-tropic prescription, and 7.1% received a behavioral health service., Competing Interests: Disclosure of interests: Dr. Gary Maslow receives grant support from Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), NC Medicaid, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, and Healthy Blue and has received research funding from Pfizer, the National Institutes of Health, and the Arc of North Carolina. Dr. Mary Kimmel was a PI on an investigator-led study with Sage Therapeutics, which ended over a year ago. Her spouse has some stock in Abbvie., (Copyright ©2024 by the North Carolina Institute of Medicine and The Duke Endowment. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The authors aimed to examine racial-ethnic differences in filled psychotropic prescriptions among a pediatric Medicaid population., Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients ages 0-21 with at least one North Carolina Medicaid claim from October 1, 2017, through September 30, 2018 (N=983,886). The primary outcome was a filled psychotropic prescription. Separate multivariable modified Poisson regression models generated adjusted risk ratios (ARRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs), adjusted for patient demographic characteristics., Results: Black and Hispanic patients were significantly less likely to receive any filled psychotropic prescription (ARR=0.61, 95% CI=0.60-0.62; ARR=0.29, 95% CI=0.28-0.29, respectively) compared with White and non-Hispanic patients. Furthermore, Black and Hispanic patients were less likely to receive filled prescriptions in the four included drug classes compared with White and non-Hispanic patients., Conclusions: Future studies should focus on understanding the factors contributing to racial and ethnic differences among pediatric patients receiving filled psychotropic prescriptions.