Uroplasty (NSDQ:UPI) landed a couple of regional Medicare coverage wins for posterior tibial nerve stimulation treatment of overactive bladder using the company’s neuromodulation device.
Health Net from California and Minnesota-based Medica granted Medicare reimbursement for the procedure, effective October 2012. Health First of Florida also acknowledged coverage for approximately 120,000 regional beneficiaries, according to a press release.
"This expanded coverage demonstrates that more payers understand the role of PTNS in treating OAB. The additional coverage provides physicians and over 4.3 million newly covered patients another treatment option for OAB, " president & CEO David Kaysen said in prepared remarks. "As payers and providers recognize that PTNS is a viable OAB treatment option, the paradigm of care for this often debilitating condition is changing dramatically."
Health Net is the one of the largest private insurance payers in California, with about 2.5 million customers primarily in California, Arizona and Oregon, and Medica added coverage for approximately 1.7 million beneficiaries in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin, according to a press release.
Uroplasty in October presented 3-year PTNS data at the Western Section of the American Urological Assn. in Waikoloa, HI, showing sustained therapeutic effects from continued PTNS treatments. Medicare administrators Noridian Administrative Services, Palmetto GBA J1 and J11 expanded PTNS coverage from 1 to 2 years based on that data, Uroplasty said
Minnetonka, Minn.-based Uroplasty in 2010 won additional Medicare coverage for its neuromodulation device from some regional Medicare carriers and notched another reimbursement win in 2011 from 2 private payers, representing 13.7 million new patients covered by UrgentPC non-invasive overactive bladder nerve stimulation treatment.
