Last week, U.S. Reps. Neal Dunn, R-Fla., and Shelia Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., teamed up on a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) about “quality measures pertaining to the use of antipsychotic medications in nursing homes.”
The two members of the Florida delegation led more than a dozen members of Congress on the letter. They both weighed in last week on why they had sent the letter.
“As a former healthcare executive, I have seen how the overprescription of off-label antipsychotics can prove to be harmful and in the worst of cases, fatal, for seniors with dementia,” said Cherfilus-McCormick. “More robust safeguards would deter blatant misuse, promoting seniors’ well-being and enhancing their quality of life.”
“It is important that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services work diligently to prevent the overprescribing of antipsychotic medications and I commend their existing efforts to do so,” said Dunn. “The reporting and quality measures used to assess antipsychotic use should include a measure of appropriateness of use to paint a fuller picture of the prescribing patterns in these facilities.”
The members led by Cherfilus-McCormick and Dunn requested “that CMS implement a supplementary measure to calculate the appropriate use of antipsychotic medications, require prescribers to document their clinical rationale before prescribing an antipsychotic medication, and document gradual dose reduction attempts and other medication regimen review information.”
Cherfilus-McCormick’s office offered some more reasons why she and Dunn led the letter.
“In January 2023, CMS announced that it would reinforce safeguards against unnecessary medications and treatments in nursing homes. To enhance oversight, CMS is conducting targeted audits to determine whether nursing homes are accurately assessing and coding individuals with a schizophrenia diagnosis,” the congresswoman’s office noted.
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