Friday, December 7, 2007

Anti-psychotics reduce nursing home costs

From the Wall St. Journal:
Nursing homes across the U.S. are giving these drugs to elderly patients to quiet symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. Nearly 30% of the total nursing-home population is receiving antipsychotic drugs, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, known as CMS. In a practice known as "off label" use of prescription drugs, patients can get these powerful medicines whether they are psychotic or not. CMS says nearly 21% of nursing-home patients who don't have a psychosis diagnosis are on antipsychotic drugs. ...

Nursing homes often find it difficult to balance the demands of caring for certain patients against the pressure to keep staff costs down. The economics of elderly care can work in favor of drugs, because federal insurance programs reimburse more readily for pills than people.

1 comment:

  1. this is a dangerous heading - the cost reduction is to the nursing home - the Medicaid program pays more through increased drug costs.

    The issue is to compare the cost of drug treatment versus staffing costs to care for these people. Not to mention the horror of imagining that it is your parent or grandparent who is being drugged into submission.

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