ISASS Coding and Reimbursement Task Force: Recent Successes and Efforts The ISASS Coding and Reimbursement Task Force leads ISASS efforts to advocate for public and private payer policies, legislation, coding, and reimbursement for spine surgeons. The Task Force is led by Dr. Morgan Lorio, who also represents ISASS in multiple policy forums. Dr. James Yue...
Read the Vertebral Columns Spring 2023 Issue This issue of Vertebral Columns highlights the use of virtual reality in preoperative surgical planning. Additional topics include single position vs prone-lateral XLIF, percutaneous transforaminal endoscopic discectomy, infections after lumbar epidural steroid injections, drains in spine surgery, radiation exposure, 3D printing, and variability in...
United Health Care Announces Plan to Reduce Prior Authorizations by 20% On March 30, 2023, United Health Care (UHC) announced a plan to reduce prior authorization requirements for (yet undefined) services as well as adoption of Gold Card programs. Their announcement indicated they intend to reduce nearly 20% of prior authorizations required beginning in July...
Medical Administrative Contractors To Begin Reviewing Facet Joint Intervention Procedure Payments On March 22, 2023, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recommended that CMS direct Medicare administrative contractors to recover improperly paid facet joint intervention payments. A recent OIG audit found that from August 1 through October 31,...