By Daniel R. Levinson, Special to CNN
Editor’s note: Daniel Levinson is the inspector general for the OIG in the Department of Health and Human Services.
(CNN) — When a loved one moves into a nursing home, the support of family and friends is particularly important. This is especially true when the nursing home patient has dementia and can’t adequately advocate on his or her own behalf.
A newly released report from my office — the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services — makes clear just how crucial it is for families to monitor and ask questions about medications that such patients receive. The report found that too often, elderly residents are prescribed antipsychotic drugs in ways that violate government standards for unnecessary drug use.
Frequently, they are prescribed in ways that don’t qualify as medically accepted for Medicare coverage. In addition, the drugs were predominately prescribed for uses that are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
But the most potentially troubling finding of the study is this: Researchers found that 88% of the time, these drugs were prescribed for elderly people with dementia.
Editor’s note: Daniel Levinson is the inspector general for the OIG in the Department of Health and Human Services.
(CNN) — When a loved one moves into a nursing home, the support of family and friends is particularly important. This is especially true when the nursing home patient has dementia and can’t adequately advocate on his or her own behalf.
A newly released report from my office — the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services — makes clear just how crucial it is for families to monitor and ask questions about medications that such patients receive. The report found that too often, elderly residents are prescribed antipsychotic drugs in ways that violate government standards for unnecessary drug use.
Frequently, they are prescribed in ways that don’t qualify as medically accepted for Medicare coverage. In addition, the drugs were predominately prescribed for uses that are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
But the most potentially troubling finding of the study is this: Researchers found that 88% of the time, these drugs were prescribed for elderly people with dementia.
Continue Reading the Article Here: http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/05/31/levinson.nursing.home.drugs/