NASS announces new coverage recommendations

The North American Spine Society recently announced it will be rolling out new coverage recommendations for spine treatments every few months and recently added coccygectomy, DNA-based scoliosis test, electrical stimulation for bone healing and facet joint interventions to its list.

“As a leader in the spine care community, [North American Spine Society] NASS is committed to preserving patient access to safe and effective spinal procedures with appropriate clinical indications,” Christopher M. Bono, MD, president of NASS, said in a letter to NASS members. “It is our strong intent and vision that insurance providers, patients and spine care professionals like you will utilize these coverage recommendations as a reference to serve fair reimbursement decisions and guard against inappropriate denial of quality spine care.”

In addition, information about the coverage recommendations are now being offered as individual chapters. In the past, the information could only be purchased as an entire online book.

Coverage policy recommendations are now available for the following spine treatments:

cervical epidural injections and diagnostic nerve blocks;
cervical artificial disc replacement;
cervical fusion;
cevical laminoplasty;
coccygectomy;
DNA-based scoliosis test;
electrical stimulation for bone healing;
endoscopic discectomy;
facet joint interventions;
interspinous device without fusion;
interspinous fixation with fusion;
laser spine surgery;
lumbar artificial disc replacement;
lumbar discectomy;
lumbar fusion;
lumbar laminectomy;
lumbar laminotomy;
lumbar spinal injections;
percutaneous sacroiliac joint fusion;
percutaneous thoracolumbar stabilization;
recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2; and
sacroiliac joint injections.

Reference:

www.spine.org/PolicyPractice/CoverageRecommendations/AboutCoverageRecommendations.aspx