nursing homes

Way too many residents of U.S. nursing homes are on antipsychotic drugs, critics say. It's often just for the convenience of the staff, to sedate patients agitated by dementia. That's illegal.

Health insurance doesn't pay for housing, but sometimes that is what a patient needs most. A Medicaid experiment helps some elderly and disabled people move out of institutions into their own homes.

An NPR probe finds many nursing homes are still prescribing schizophrenia drugs to calm dementia patients — despite FDA warnings — but only 2 percent of excessive-medication cases result in penalties.

The staff's goal was to reduce the prescription of antipsychotic drugs by 20 percent. In the first year, they cut use by 97 percent. How? By addressing the real reasons for agitation and aggression.

A U.S. attorney has sued two nursing homes in Watsonville, Calif., alleging that they failed to provide the acceptable care they were paid for by the government.