The North American Spine Society has a new coverage recommendation for percutaneous sacroiliac joint fusion.
The policy is currently open for public comment for the next 30 days. NASS will then review comments and make any necessary edits before publishing the final coverage recommendations.
Here are five quick points on the recommendation:
1. The NASS Coverage Committee recommends coverage for percutaneous SI join fusion with certain criteria.
2. NASS recommends surgeons are careful with patient selection because while the procedure "has proven to be relatively safe," there are concerns about much of the data on the procedure currently being industry sponsored.
3. Current data shows five-year outcomes don't degrade the sustained benefit of the surgery.
4. The committee did not recommend percutaneous SI fusion for sacroiliac joint pain if there is systemic arthropathy, generalized pain behavior or disorder, infection, tumor, fracture, SI joint instability or neural compression.
5. The committee didn't recommend surgery until after the patient undergoes six months of failed intensive nonoperative treatment that "must include medication optimization, activity modification and active physical therapy."