Rosie the Riveter / Wikimedia & RRY Publications
NASS jumped into the XLIF reimbursement fray by telling insurance carriers that the procedure was not experimental or investigational. As in the vertebroplasty situation, the Society defended its position as the authoritative voice for defining high quality, evidence-based spine care. Read their rationale here.
Fire Fighting / Wikimedia Commons
NuVasive fights back and says there are no coding or reimbursement issues for its XLIF procedure. But questions about future reimbursements and a slew of short sales have cut the company’s market cap by almost $600 million in the last two months. Read what company CEO Lukianov told analysts on November 30.
Zebra Eco Pen / Wikimedia
Cigna is about to review its previous coverage decision that said NuVasive’s XLIF was “unproven.” Their review is being watched to see if other carriers will follow suit and whether or not another effort will be made to create a new CPT code for the procedure.
Source: http://findalco.com
CMS is considering revisions to its spine fusion procedure ICD codes. Those codes are the “devil in the details” of reimbursement. CMS hasn’t heard from the little guys, says an industry consultant. If your technology involves words like DLIF, XLIF, or AxiaLIF, read on and submit your comments to CMS by November 20.
Graphic courtesy of state of Wisconsin
Orthopedic Pork Barrel? How about a government-funded program to increase customers? AdvaMed, virtually every major orthopedic manufacturer and others are lining up against it? Maybe we’re missing something, but we think this is an opportunity for the industry.
Caption: "I was a neutral.", "Illustration of the Franco-Prussian War " (1871), Thomas Nast
Joe Zuckerman, M.D., and the AAOS publicly chastised the president of the United States after he made an inaccurate statement about surgeons at a recent town hall meeting. Why did Joe take on the leader of the free world? Read it here.
Wikimedia Commons
The aging population is growing, and Medicare is feeling the strain of covering expensive spine procedures. Will there be any relief? PearlDiver delves into the data to find new money-saving opportunities.
Colorectal surgeon Song
MSF/Doctors without Borders HAITIAN FACILITIES DESTROYED.
MaximsNewsNetwork: HAITI: 30 to 100 AMPUTATIONS a DAY (W.H.O.) (U.N. MINUSTAH)
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