Antipsychotic Drug use in Nursing Homes: Trend Update

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) extended the hardship application deadline for the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program to July 1, 2016. Eligible professionals, eligible hospitals, and critical access hospitals will have time to submit their applications to avoid adjustments to their Medicare payments in 2017. In January, CMS posted new, streamlined hardship exception application forms on the PaThe Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is tracking the progress of the National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes by reviewing publicly reported measures. The official measure of the Partnership is the percentage of long-stay nursing home residents who receive an antipsychotic medication, excluding those residents diagnosed with schizophrenia, Huntington's disease or Tourette’s syndrome. In the fourth quarter of 2011, 23.9% of long-stay nursing home residents received an antipsychotic medication. Since then, there has been a decrease of 27% to a national prevalence of 17.4% in the third quarter of 2015. Success varies by state and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services region, with some states and regions seeing a reduction greater than 25%.
For More Information:
•    Register for the April 28 MLN Connects National Provider Call
•    Visit the National Partnership webpage
•    Send correspondence to dnh_behavioralhealth@cms.hhs.gov.