United Healthcare changes lumbar spinal fusion policy to include coverage for XLIF procedure

NuVasive, Inc. (Nasdaq: NUVA), a medical device company focused on developing products for minimally disruptive surgical treatments for the spine, announced today that United Healthcare changed its lumbar spinal fusion policy to include coverage for the eXtreme Lateral Interbody Fusion, or XLIF procedure, published on February 26, 2010, 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.

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."

SOURCE NuVasive, Inc.