The Trump administration is reviewing federal policies on antipsychotic drug use in nursing homes — a shift that could affect how facilities treat residents with dementia — The Washington Post reported March 6.
Federal regulators have spent more than a decade discouraging use of the drugs to control behavior in nursing home residents with dementia. Under the current system, a facility having a greater number of patients taking the drugs can lead to a worse rating on the federal Nursing Home Care Compare website. “The move comes after a sustained lobbying campaign by groups backed by the manufacturers of antipsychotics,” the Post said.
About 17% of long-stay nursing home residents receive antipsychotic medications, according to June 2025 data from CMS. Long-stay residents are those living in facilities for more than 100 days, representing 36% of the roughly 1.3 million nursing home residents in the U.S., according to the American Health Care Association.
Most antipsychotics — including generic versions of Seroquel, Risperdal and Zyprexa — are approved for conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression. Physicians at times prescribe them off-label for dementia-related behaviors, though the drugs carry FDA black-box warnings about risk for elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis, according to the report.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it is reexamining the policy “with the goal of supporting clinically indicated use while continuing to discourage inappropriate prescribing,” the Post said.
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