New AMA policy calls for deprescribing as part of routine care

Clinical takeaway: Regularly reassess whether medications still offer benefits that outweigh harms and align with patients’ goals, particularly in older adults and during care transitions. Use shared decision-making and coordinate dose reductions or discontinuation with the care team.

As medication lists grow, treatments can remain in place even when their benefits, risks, or relevance to a patient’s goals have changed. Deprescribing offers a structured opportunity to reassess treatment and reduce medication burden.

The American Medical Association adopted policy at its November 2026 Interim Meeting defining deprescribing as a planned, supervised process of reducing doses or stopping medications when continued use may no longer provide clinical benefit, harms may outweigh benefits, or treatment is misaligned with goals of care.

The policy identifies medication reconciliation, assessment of medication risks based on individual patient characteristics, shared decision-making, and physician-led team-based care as core components. It also recognizes practical barriers: unclear professional responsibilities, fragmented care, and inadequate workflows and information sharing across healthcare organizations.

According to the AMA announcement, the supporting Council on Science and Public Health report found that individualized, structured, supervised deprescribing can safely reduce medication burden and may improve selected clinical and economic outcomes. The new policy encourages additional research on outcomes and best practices, alongside education for physicians, care teams, and patients.

“Deprescribing is not simply about taking patients off medications, but about ensuring medications continue to provide more benefit than harm over time,” said AMA Board Member Ilse R. Levin, DO, MPH & TM.

Sources: American Medical Association. (2026 Nov 9) AMA adopts policy aimed at defining, supporting deprescribing; AMA House of Delegates. (2026) Reference Committee K report, p 6: Deprescribing in clinical practice