The American Health Care Association (AHCA) announced this week that its skilled nursing center members achieved a greater percent reduction than non-skilled nursing center members in the use of antipsychotic drugs from 2011 to 2018, with the AHCA member percent reduction at 37.2 percent and non-members at 34.4 percent. According to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), 23.6 percent of residents in member centers received an antipsychotic medication in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared with 14.8 percent of residents in the first quarter of 2018.

“There is no question that the data released by CMS shows that nursing homes are reducing unnecessary medication use,” said AHCA Senior Vice President of Quality and Regulatory Affairs Dr. David Gifford. “Nearly seven years ago, AHCA members set a goal to reduce unnecessary antipsychotic medication use. We’ve achieved that and more. Now, we are working toward a new goal: another 10 percent reduction by 2021.”

As a result of the Association’s metric-based Quality Initiative and its partnership with CMS’ National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care, the nationwide decline in antipsychotic use is 36.2 percent. AHCA launched its Quality Initiative in 2012 and later joined the National Partnership to raise awareness about safe alternatives to antipsychotic medications for residents and patients with dementia through a systems-based and person-centered approach to care.