SPRINGFIELD, MA-Today, House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) released the following statement in response to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General’s latest issue brief :
“This report from HHS confirms that the data CMS uses to track the use of antipsychotics in nursing homes are insufficient, and underestimate the full scope of this crisis. The residents of our nation’s nursing homes deserve better than this, and I have repeatedly called for better data collection and oversight of the industry to make certain we are grasping the depth of the overprescribing epidemic as we work to put an end to it. I know the Biden Administration will be strong partners in ensuring patients are receiving high-quality care, and I look forward to working with them to strengthen the oversight of the nursing home industry."
In July 2020, Ways and Means Committee Democrats released a report, “Under-Enforced and Over-Prescribed: The Antipsychotic Drug Epidemic Ravaging America’s Nursing Homes," that found alarmingly high rates of antipsychotic abuse in nursing homes while the Trump Administration conducted little to no oversight.
