Public Policy and Advocacy
December 16, 2010 - Advocacy Alert: House Passes by Voice Vote 30 Day "Doc Fix" SAS/ISASS would like to alert you to the US House of Representatives passage of the Physician Payment and Therapy Relief Act of 2010 related to Medicare and Tricare payments...
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December 16, 2010 - Advocacy Alert: Dr. Thomas Errico Responds to WSJ Article SAS/ISASS would like to alert you to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal covering Congressman Darrell Issa's (incoming chairman of the House's chief investigative committee) goal of "cutting the overuse of expensive medical procedures.... ...data came in a report suggesting that expensive cardiovascular and orthopedic implants are overused by doctors, sometimes after aggressive promotion by device makers."
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December 16, 2010 - Advocacy Alert: SAS/ISASS Efforts Highlighted in Orthopedics This Week SAS/ISASS thought you would be interested in two recent articles in Orthopedics This Week (OTW) advocating support for spine surgeons and patients. OTW is providing non-subscribers of the SAS with a “community pass” which allows the members unlimited access to ALL articles. The pass is renewable and allows members to download full PDFs of articles.
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December 15, 2010 - Advocacy Alert: BCBS/NC Lumbar Fusion Response The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), the AANS/CNS Joint Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves, the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS), the North American Spine Society (NASS), the North Carolina Neurosurgical Society (NCNS), the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA) and the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) would like to thank BlueCross and BlueShield of North Carolina (BCBS of NC) for the opportunity to provide comments on the draft Corporate Medical Policy pertaining to Lumbar Spine Fusion Surgery, with a policy effect date of January 1, 2011.
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December 2, 2010 - SAS Will Engage Payers on Spine Surgery-Related Procedures SAS President Dr. Thomas Errico, MD has posted an update on The SAS response to the BCBS/NC insurance policy changes. The SAS community has vigorously responded to our original alert on this issue. However, limiting communication to email and phone discussions has not been the most efficient method for us - as a community - to collaborate on this topic. Looking forward, we have established a new online forum to facilitate additional community participation.
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November 17, 2010 - Alert: Changes to Spine Fusion Insurance Reimbursement Policy The SAS is alerting our membership regarding recent changes to a US insurance reimbursement policy covering spine fusion procedures. The revised policy may affect all SAS members, including international members, in the future. As past SAS President Chun-Kun Park, MD, PhD said:
“Such changes are likely to have an impact on the reimbursement policy quite a bit even in the other countries, because as you know, 'bad news travels fast' in the recent information society with advanced telecommunications. So, it can lead to a grave international issue.”
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November 15, 2010 - North Carolina-based SAS members We wanted to bring your attention to an issue that may adversely impact patient access to necessary spine fusion procedures. We have learned that North Carolina BC/BS has issued a new, more restrictive policy for lumbar fusion procedures, effective January 2011.
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October 9, 2009 SAS Position Statements will be reviewed every five years, or at the request of one of our members if compelling new data becomes available. SAS Advocacy in Action Georgia Surgeon Rallies Colleagues in Support of Cervical Disc Arthroplasty US-based SAS Members and their patients often face significant obstacles in obtaining insurance carrier coverage for lumbar and cervical disc arthroplasty. Given that disc arthroplasty products have only been on the US market for less than 7 years, many insurers often cite their proposed use as “experimental or investigational,” which leaves little opportunity for appeal of such decisions. However, many of our members won’t take no for an answer, knowing that disc arthroplasty is a superior technology for many patients who would otherwise settle for a fusion procedure. One such member is Jim Lindley, from Savannah, Georgia. Dr. Lindley, frustrated by the continuous denials from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Georgia (a WellPoint company) is enlisting his Georgia surgical colleagues in an attempt to change the payer’s current policy. Dr. Lindley sent a letter to all Georgia surgeons who participated in an IDE trial for, or have been trained by manufacturers in the use of, any of the three FDA-approved artificial cervical discs, asking that they sign an affidavit as evidence of their support for BC/BS coverage of cervical disc arthroplasty. Dr. Lindley has been in contact with WellPoint, and will provide his affidavits, and other supportive material including SAS’ Position Statement on Cervical Total Disc Arthroplasty, to their medical director prior to a February 25th coverage determination hearing. To date, Dr. Lindley has received 50 signed affidavits - a response rate of over 60 percent, and is hopeful that his efforts will lead to a positive outcome with WellPoint. SAS needs your help – If you are interested in signing on to Dr. Lindley’s affidavit, which will be shared with WellPoint in late February, please contact Dr. Lindley at jlindley9@comcast.net, or simply fax your signed affidavit to 912-356-9634. Click Here (PDF - 10/9/2009) to view a copy of the letter and the affidavit that Dr. Lindley sent to his Georgia colleagues. Click Here (HTML) to view a copy of the SAS’ Position Statement on Cervical Total Disc Arthroplasty, approved by the SAS Board in October 2009. If you have a similar advocacy story, and would like to share it with your SAS colleagues, please contact David Porter at david@ISASS.org. We are eager to know what the SAS membership is doing to fight for patient access to these life-changing technologies. | 
