A Decade of Drugging
The Long Term Care Community Coalition placed a big lump of coal in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) stocking this Christmas with its excellent review of the current state of chemical restraints and resident drugging in America’s nursing homes. Over ten years have passed since CMS launched a ballyhooed Partnership to Improve Dementia Care. The central goal of the Partnership was to reduce the misuse of antipsychotics and other drugs used on residents as chemical restraints. After a slow and modest reduction in antipsychotic use during its first few years, the Partnership has withered from inattention and now chemical restraint use is at horrific levels. A recent OIG study found that eighty percent (!) of long-stay nursing home residents are drugged with at least one psychotropic.
