The AP (12/1, Perrone) reports, "Government inspectors told lawmakers Wednesday that Medicare officials need to do more to stop doctors from prescribing powerful psychiatric" medications "to nursing home patients with dementia, an unapproved practice that has flourished despite repeated government warnings." The antipsychotic medications are prescribed to treat "people suffering from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but they're also given to hundreds of thousands of elderly nursing home patients in the US to pacify aggressive behavior related to dementia." But these medications "can also increase the risk of death in seniors, prompting the Food and Drug Administration to issue multiple warnings against prescribing the drugs for dementia."
"Nursing homes should be held accountable for inappropriately dispensing antipsychotic" medications "for Medicare beneficiaries and pay back the Part D program for those misused medicines, Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General Daniel Levinson said Wednesday," CQ (12/1, Bristol, Subscription Publication) reports. "The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is emphasizing non-pharmacological interventions for patients who did not have a diagnosis of psychosis or might not be candidates for the drugs." Patrick Conway, chief medical officer and director for the CMS Office of Clinical Standards and Quality, stated that "in addition to improving education for providers, prescribers and patients' families, the agency is strengthening current rules and eliminating conflicts of interest that may influence prescribing."
Bloomberg News (12/1, Wayne) reports, "Medicare improperly paid about $116 million in the first half of 2007 for prescriptions filled in nursing homes for a class of drugs called atypical anti-psychotics, Daniel Levinson told the Senate Committee on Aging in a hearing today."
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