Medicare Should Pay for Spinal Decompression Therapy
- par: Jay B. Danto, DO & Samjill Publishing Company, LLC
- destinataire: The Office of the President of the United States; The U.S. Congress
My name is Jay Danto, D.O. and this petition is for Medicare to cover Spinal Decompression Therapy for Degenerative Disc Disease of the Cervical and Lumbar spine. Although I am presenting my personal story, it is representative of many of my patients and many of the undersigned, their friends and family members. I am a 40-year-old physician with degenerative disc disease of my L5 vertebra. Three years ago I suffered with chronic pain from the disc. Everyday by 3 o%u2019clock in the afternoon I wasn%u2019t sure if I could make it to 5 o%u2019clock and finish the day. Everyday by the time I left work I would eat dinner and then spend the rest of my night in bed. I did everything within my scope of practice that should help and it did, but I still had the problem.
I dedicated myself to reviewing the prevailing research in the area. Spinal discs are almost always under constant positive pressure. According to research the only thing that causes negative intradiscal pressure is traction. The problem with traditional traction is that it is often accompanied by a reflex spasm that offsets the effects of the traction. Consequently, about 40 years ago a few scientists came up with the concept of Spinal Decompression Therapy. The significance of this form of therapy is that it apparently targets the disc better, acts in a pumping manner upon the disc and assesses the pull upon the disc creating a more interactive and specific treatment. The most significant part of decompression to me is that it has worked both for my patients and myself. The problem is that it is not a covered benefit by Medicare and many other insurance policies; as a result I have started this petition.
Most physicians and physical therapists that offer this service make patients pay out of pocket. I, as well as many of my colleagues, had to hire a physical therapist because physicians are no longer allowed to bill for the therapies that usually accompany the decompression. Spinal Decompression Machines cost from $90,000.00 - $150,000.00. These two costs incur a lot of overhead as well as the demands of having staff to operate the machines. There is currently a code for spinal decompression, but it is not re-imbursable.
Spinal decompression is a young science and has not been adequately explored. Worse yet it is an area of medicine that is not easily amenable to double blind placebo controlled studies, the gold standard of medical research. There are a number of reasons that this is a difficult area of study, but I will not go into them here since the purpose of this petition is to show you the overwhelming public support this type of therapy has behind it.
In short, there is a large range of patient billing going on for spinal decompression and I%u2019ve heard of people paying as much as $5,000.00 for the therapy. I truly believe that Medicare and insurances should pay for this form of treatment. By pledging your support through your signature we will urge congress and the President to look into allowing physicians and/or physical therapist to collect $45.00 to $50.00 per visit for this treatment for a total of 50 visits a year. The reason that I requested the 50 visits is that it covers 30 visits for the lower back and 20 for the neck. Unfortunately, in a significant but smaller population they can have both areas degenerate.
Dear Commander and Chief and Distinguished Members of Congress,
My name is Jay Danto, D.O. and this petition is for Medicare to cover Spinal Decompression Therapy for Degenerative Disc Disease of the Cervical and Lumbar spine. Although I am presenting my personal story, it is representative of many of my patients and many of the undersigned, their friends and family members. I am a 40-year-old physician with degenerative disc disease of my L5 vertebra. Three years ago I suffered with chronic pain from the disc. Everyday by 3 o%u2019clock in the afternoon I wasn%u2019t sure if I could make it to 5 o%u2019clock and finish the day. Everyday by the time I left work I would eat dinner and then spend the rest of my night in bed. I did everything within my scope of practice that should help and it did, but I still had the problem.
I dedicated myself to reviewing the prevailing research in the area. Spinal discs are almost always under constant positive pressure. According to research the only thing that causes negative intradiscal pressure is traction. The problem with traditional traction is that it is often accompanied by a reflex spasm that offsets the effects of the traction. Consequently, about 40 years ago a few scientists came up with the concept of Spinal Decompression Therapy. The significance of this form of therapy is that it apparently targets the disc better, acts in a pumping manner upon the disc and assesses the pull upon the disc creating a more interactive and specific treatment. The most significant part of decompression to me is that it has worked both for my patients and myself. The problem is that it is not a covered benefit by Medicare and many other insurance policies; as a result I have started this petition.
Most physicians and physical therapists that offer this service make patients pay out of pocket. I personally had to hire a physical therapist because physicians are no longer allowed to bill for the therapies that usually accompany the decompression. Spinal Decompression Machines cost from $90,000.00 - $150,000.00. These two costs incur a lot of overhead as well as the demands of having staff to operate the machines. There is currently a code for spinal decompression, but it is not re-imbursable.
I understand that we are currently experiencing hard economic times with medicare dollars in short supply. However, chronic low back pain due to spinal degeneration costs the country millions in both days lost from work and other treatment costs necessary for alleviating the pain and disability that back and neck pain patients suffer from.
Spinal decompression is a young science and has not been adequately explored. Worse yet it is an area of medicine that is not easily amenable to double blind placebo controlled studies, the gold standard of medical research. There are a number of reasons that this is a difficult area of study, but I will not go into them here since the purpose of this petition is to show you the overwhelming public support this type of therapy has behind it.
In short, there is a large range of patient billing going on for spinal decompression and I%u2019ve heard of people paying as much as $5,000.00 for the therapy. I really believe that Medicare and insurances should pay for this form of treatment. Please, look into allowing physicians and/or physical therapist to collect $45.00 to $50.00 per visit for this treatment for a total of 50 visits a year. The reason that I request the 50 visits is that it covers 30 visits for the lower back and 20 for the neck. Unfortunately, in a significant but smaller population they can have both areas degenerate.
Sincerely,
Jay B. Danto, D.O.
I hereby pledge my support and hereby call upon the President and Congress to have Medicare pay for Spinal Decompression Therapy. This is a type of therapy that: I have benefited from; I know someone who has benefited from; May benefit me; May benefit someone close to me, or; Simply makes a lot of sense to me.
Thank you for your consideration.
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