The inappropriate antipsychotic drugging of nursing home residents, particularly those with dementia, is a widespread, national problem. Despite the Food and Drug Administration’s ‘black box’ warnings against using antipsychotics on elderly patients, they are frequently used to treat the so-called behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. As of fall 2018, 20% of nursing home residents are receiving antipsychotic drugs, though only 2% of the population will ever have a diagnosis for a condition recognized by the federal government when it risk-adjusts for potentially appropriate use of these drugs.
Click on the links below to download easy-to-use files for each state. Each file provides all citations for inappropriate drugging for the most recent three-year period (as posted on Nursing Home Compare in October 2018: August 24, 2015 – August 23, 2018).
In addition, quarterly drugging rates for nursing homes across the U.S. are available on the Enforcement page of this website. Please also see the Dementia Care Advocacy Toolkit for more information on standards of care and resident-centered advocacy to reduce inappropriate drugging.