NEWS - US Medicare expands coverage for fracture therapy

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US Medicare expands coverage for fracture therapy

Last Updated: 2005-04-28 11:25:13 -0400 (Reuters Health)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Medicare will pay for ultrasound treatments to

help mend broken bones in any beneficiary whose fractures won't heal, not

just patients who have undergone failed surgery, the agency said on

Wednesday.

The expanded coverage, prompted by a request from medical device maker

& Nephew PLC, will be analyzed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid

Services (CMS) to see how beneficial the wider use will prove, officials

said.

In 2000, the nation's health insurance program for the elderly and disabled

agreed to pay for the ultrasonic stimulation therapy but only after surgery

failed to help.

Last year, & Nephew, which makes the Exogen Bone Healing System that

it says can help heal broken bones faster, asked the agency to reconsider

the limitation.

Nearly 7 million fractures occur in the United States each year, according

to Medicare officials, and 900,000 of them end in hospitalizations. Half of

those patients who end up in the hospital are ages 65 and older -- the age

when they become eligible for Medicare.

While the body can normally heal a broken bone within 2 to 3 months, it can

take longer as people get older. Such delays are known as nonunion

fractures.

" We are making this bone healing treatment more widely available, while at

the same time gaining knowledge that will better inform our coverage

decision process, " CMS Administrator Mark McClellan said.

Not an MD

I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org