CMS issued an ICD-10 code for radiolucent porous interbody fusion devices.
Here are five things to know:
1. The new ICD-10 code classification covers Atlanta-based Vertera Spine's Cohere Cervical Interbody Fusion Device as the only commercially available porous interbody fusion device.
2. Providers and payers can now track the utilization, outcomes and costs associated with the radiolucent porous interbody fusion device through the new ICD-10 code.
3. The Cohere device is manufactured out of PEEK and approved for use under the new code, which is effective Oct. 1, 2017. The code is listed as an XRG code under "Interbody Fusion Device, Radiolucent Porous."
4. The FDA previously granted clearance for the Cohere device, which has five years of basic science, preclinical and clinical research behind it.
"The development of porous PEEK has allowed for the combination of radiolucency and porosity in an interbody implant that is completely plastic," said Kevin Foley, MD, of Semmes-Murphy Neurologic and Spine Institute. "This new code gives us the potential to better correlate bone tissue ingrowth into Vertera Spine's porous PEEK Cohere device with clinical outcomes."
5. The first clinical use of Cohere occurred in the second quarter of 2016.