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Armed forces health care program, private insurer provide access to SBi’s TAR system
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Small Bone Innovations, Inc. announced in press releases that 1.7 million people covered by Coventry Health Care and 9.6 million beneficiaries of the U.S. Department of Defense TRICARE health care program, which covers armed forces personnel, retirees and their families, will now have access to SBi’s STAR Total Ankle Replacement system.
STAR is the only total ankle replacement approved through the FDA’s pre-market approval process, according to the releases. Those covered by Coventry Health Care will have access to total ankle replacement system following a policy revision recently issued by the insurer.
“Next generation total ankle replacement technology is an effective treatment alternative to fusion in carefully selected patients with severe ankle arthritis,” Jeffrey Johnson, MD, an associate professor and chief of the Foot & Ankle Service at Washington University Orthopedics in St. Louis, Missouri, stated in an SBi press release.
“Knee and hip replacements are common among older Americans, but ankle replacement is increasingly an option when the ankle joint wears out from injury or arthritis. Ankle replacement surgery allows patients to regain full range of motion in the ankle joint, and enables many to return to an active lifestyle,” he added.
According to the release, total patient access to the STAR ankle in private health plans has risen to 91%.
In a separate release about TRICARE beneficiaries’ access to the total ankle replacement system, Anthony G. Viscogliosi, chairman and CEO of SBi, stated, “Armed forces personnel and their families deserve the most advanced technologies and treatments. The benefits of the STAR ankle suggest it could become the gold standard for advanced ankle arthritis treatment.”
According to the release, estimates by SBi’s reimbursement consultant — Musculoskeletal Clinical Regulatory Advisers, LLC — note that total patient access to the STAR ankle in U.S. government health care plans has reached all of the almost 100 million eligible individuals.