NuVasive, focused on developing products for minimally disruptive surgical treatments for the spine, has reported that United Healthcare has changed its lumbar spinal fusion policy to include coverage for the eXtreme Lateral Interbody Fusion (XLIF) procedure, a reversal from its previous policy that labeled XLIF as unproven.
The updated policy removes XLIF from the list of unproven spinal fusion techniques and adds coding clarification in line with the North American Spine Society (NASS) recommendation letter dated January 5, 2010.
NuVasive’s principal product offering is based on its Maximum Access Surgery (MAS) platform. MAS reduces surgery time and returns patients to activities of daily living much faster than conventional approaches. Having redefined spine surgery with the MAS platform’s lateral approach, known as eXtreme Lateral Interbody Fusion (XLIF) NuVasive has built an entire spine franchise.
Alex Lukianov, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “We were pleased to learn of the reversal of Aetna’s coverage policy this morning, with United Healthcare following shortly thereafter. Following the guidance from NASS, we have been working diligently to reverse non-coverage decisions for XLIF, and we will continue to pursue this strategy.”
NuVasive is a medical device company focused on the design, development and marketing of products for the surgical treatment of spine disorders. The company’s product portfolio is focused primarily on the $5.1bn US spine implant market. Additionally, the company has expanded into the $1.7bn global biologics market, the $1.7bn international market, and is developing products for the emerging motion preservation market.