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Overuse of antipsychotics in nursing homes — the feds have caught on

Posted by Sasha Golden | May 11, 2011 | 0 Comments

According to an article in today's New York Times, an audit by the Department of Health and Human Services found that “more than half of the antipsychotics paid for by the federal Medicare program in the first half of 2007 were “erroneous,” the audit found, costing the program $116 million for those six months.” These drugs are commonly used to treat the agitation caused by dementia — sometimes to good effect, sometimes not. Unfortunately, some nursing homes use them instead of giving their staff adequate training in behavioral interventions. In some cases, use of antipsychotics have been linked to illegal kickbacks to drug companies.

You can read the HHS audit here.

About the Author

Sasha Golden

Alexandra “Sasha” Golden received her undergraduate and law degrees from Boston College, and has been practicing law in Massachusetts since 1994. Attorney Golden is a long-standing member of the Massachusetts chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) and of the Probate and So...

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