Physician Groups Oppose Cigna Payment Policy on Multiple Procedures On April 18, 2023, ISASS joined more than 100 other medical societies in requesting that Cigna immediately rescind a new policy that will create a disincentive for unscheduled medically necessary care and place a significant administrative burden on healthcare professionals. Effective May 25, 2023, Cigna will require physicians to...

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...

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,...