DRUGGED UP

Study: Antipsychotics on Decline in Nursing Homes, but Abuse Remains

Overmedication remains a problem, the report found.

The use of antipsychotic drugs in U.S. nursing homes has dramatically decreased in recent years, a new study shows, but experts say it is still excessive. According to the latest data from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the use of antipsychotic drugs in long-term nursing home patients decreased “from about 24 percent in late 2011 to under 16 percent last year” with decreases reported in all 50 states. A new report from Human Rights Watch based on the updated CMS data estimates that 179,000 nursing-home patients are given antipsychotics every week with no diagnosis that warrants the medication’s use—sometimes without the consent of the patient or their relatives. While the decrease is significant, experts wonder if nursing homes are finding other drugs to “sedate their patients into passivity” and advocacy groups are still pushing for a phasing out of their use—due to known increased death risks that the drugs pose to elderly people with dementia.