The class of sleeping medications thought to be safer for nursing home residents than traditional anti-anxiety drugs actually puts them at a 70% increased risk for hip fracture, a study suggests. Following a Medicare Part D change in 2006, physicians started prescribing sleeping pills such as Ambien, Lunesta and Sonata for nursing home residents with insomnia, instead of older benzodiazepines, according to researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
October 11, 2012
The American Health Care Association's David Gifford, M.D., is offering tips for nursing homes looking to meet regulator and trade group deadlines for reducing antipsychotics use.
The battle over antipsychotics use for seniors and their marketing shows no signs of abating. The latest blow is a billion-dollar court decision against a pharmaceutical giant accused of too aggressively pushing the drug Risperdal, which is taken by many seniors with Alzheimer's disease.
Long-term daily doses of the antibiotic azithromycin helped prevent life-threatening flare-ups of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a new study finds.
September 22, 2010
Use of physical restraints, falls, and emotional and behavioral symptoms dropped at nursing and rehabilitation facilities across the country over the last decade. But other quality indicators, such as the prevalence of anti-anxiety drug use, increased. That is according to a report released Monday by the American Health Care Association and the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care.
