Carlsmed's newly launched patient-specific spine implant, Aprevo, has been granted the New Technology Add-On Payment by CMS.
Beginning Oct. 1, spinal fusions using the Aprevo device are eligible for increased reimbursement from CMS and commercial payers through the NTAP program, which provides additional payment in the hospital inpatient setting.
CMS uses the payments to accelerate the adoption of innovative devices meeting certain cost and clinical improvement criteria after FDA approval.
Aprevo, a 3D-printed interbody designed for the treatment of adult spinal deformity, is the only spine technology to receive the FDA's breakthrough device designation, according to the company.
Christopher Ames, MD, of University of California San Francisco Medical Center, completed the first procedure with the device in February and Hartford (Conn.) Healthcare's Vijay Yanamadala, MD, became the second surgeon to complete a case with the technology.
"While elderly adults can be expected to have more complications with surgical treatment than younger patients, having tools such as aprevo to achieve the optimal personalized correction for each patient may help to reduce these," Justin Smith, MD, PhD, chief of spine surgery at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, said in an Oct. 1 news release.