In the early 2000s, public health experts expressed concern that antipsychotic medications (APs) were being prescribed inappropriately in nursing homes, including use as chemical restraints. In 2012, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced new quality metrics aimed at reducing AP misuse in nursing homes. In this analysis of the Medicare 100% Research Identifiable Files for 2011 through 2015, we show that use of APs declined by 26%, and that the decline was larger for patients with the diagnoses targeted in the quality metrics.

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This report was commissioned by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.