Records Show Misuse of Anti-Psychotics in Nursing
Homes all Across the State

Those persons slumped over and sound asleep in their wheelchairs at your local nursing homes often times just don’t happen.

They can be victims of the misuse of anti-psychotics.

It’s a growing problem in nursing homes that would choose to administer “knock-out” pills rather than hire sufficient staff to take care of these residents, mostly victims of dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease.

Now the federal government is finally starting to do something about the problem. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in the Cabinet for Health and Human Services has announced it will try to get states to crack down on the misuse so that a 15 percent drop can be gained by the end of this year.

A committee has been formed in Kentucky and will meet next week. The committee membership is heavy on industry lobbyists and nursing home representatives and state bureaucrats. Only two or three persons on a conference call by CMS were consumer reps, among them a representative of Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, a statewide advocacy group.

“It’s like the fox guarding the hen house,” said Bernie Vonderheide, founder of the organization. “But we will be watching them, and believe me, they need watching,” he said.

But what about nursing homes in your local area?

You can find out how many of them use anti-psychotics by going to this Website: http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2012/04/28/database/j8FWvjNHMaP6uo7hQ0mrHO/story.html

The median use for anti-psychotics in the U.S. is 16.7 percent. This is the percent of residents without psychosis or related condition who received antipsychotics anyway.

In Kentucky, 161 of 280 nursing homes surveyed were over the median number. The data was collected by The Boston Globe. It took that newspaper 19 months to pry the 2010 data loose from CMS.

QUESTIONS? Contact Bernie Vonderheide (859) 312-5617.

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