NuVasive Says Cigna, Humana Back Spine Procedure; Shares Rise
January 18 2011 - 5:50PM
Dow Jones News
NuVasive Inc. (NUVA) said Tuesday that both Cigna Corp. (CI) and
Humana Inc. (HUM) have shifted gears and will now cover the
flagship spinal procedure involving the company's devices, after
the insurers had previously considered it experimental.
The San Diego-based company has long said that the fact insurers
wouldn't cover "eXtreme Lateral Interbody Fusion," or XLIF, wasn't
an impediment because doctors could get patients treated by seeking
coverage under a more generic term for back surgery. Nevertheless,
the turnarounds at Cigna and Humana remove a lingering question
mark for NuVasive because all major insurers that once wouldn't
cover XLIF have changed course. The procedure involves fixing
spinal problems from patients' sides.
NuVasive shares rose 5.8% to $29.49 in after-hours trading after
slipping 10 cents during regular trading hours Tuesday.
Shares have been under pressure due to a more emergent concern
with insurers these days. They are raising hurdles for certain
spinal-fusion procedures that they don't believe are well supported
by medical evidence, pressuring the whole spinal-device sector.
NuVasive has cut guidance multiple times recently while citing this
issue.
"We are very pleased with the recent coverage decisions by both
CIGNA and Humana," Alex Lukianov, NuVasive's chairman and chief
executive, said in a release. "We applaud the efforts of surgeons,
surgical societies and the insurance companies to ensure beneficial
technologies, like our XLIF procedure, are available to those
patients suffering from spine related issues."
The Cigna and Humana decisions follow turnarounds at Aetna Inc.
(AET) and UnitedHealth Group's (UNH) UnitedHealthcare early last
year.
-By Jon Kamp, Dow Jones Newswires; 617-654-6728;
jon.kamp@dowjones.com
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