Nursing homes are inappropriately diagnosing residents with schizophrenia and prescribing antipsychotic drugs to make them easier to manage and to manipulate Medicare quality ratings, a federal watchdog reported.
In an analysis of documentation and data from a nationwide sample of 40 nursing homes, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (IG) found that med...
The HHS IG's report raises concerns about the inappropriate use of antipsychotics in nursing homes and the potential manipulation of Medicare quality ratings. The use of false schizophrenia diagnoses to mask the inappropriate use of antipsychotics is a troubling pattern that undermines the integrity of the national database used by caregivers and patients to compare Medicare providers. This pattern aligns with ARC-0024 Ambiguity, as the use of false diagnoses creates ambiguity about the true rea...