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Antipsychotic use in long-stay nursing homes has decreased 21.7% over the past four years, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Data from the National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes shows 18.7% of nursing home residents received antipsychotics in the first quarter of 2015, compared to 23.9% in the fourth quarter of 2011. 

The American Health Care Association reported in the first quarter of 2015, its members created a 23% decrease in antipsychotic use. In May, AHCA announced it would be expanding its Quality Initiative. First launched in 2012, the initiative calls for members to reduce antipsychotics by 30% by the end of 2016.

Still, “CMS is now proposing restrictive documentation regulations on how these medications can be prescribed,” warned AHCA’s David Gifford, M.D.