The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) announced on June 29, 2026, that it will be conducting a nationwide analysis of antipsychotic drug use in nursing homes. This project will examine the extent of antipsychotic drug use among Medicare beneficiaries in nursing homes and the extent to which those beneficiaries had dementia diagnoses.

The project follows two reports released in March 2026 describing inappropriate use of antipsychotics in nursing homes and inappropriate diagnosing of schizophrenia to mask the use of antipsychotics. It seems that the findings from these two reports may have been the impetus for OIG’s new project in an effort to determine how accurately the findings from the initial limited reviews reflect the larger system. No date has been released for when the findings of this latest project will be reported.

LeadingAge will continue to monitor the OIG work plan for any updates.