A Crisis is Unfolding...

HBOT for Radiation Necrosis is Categorized as Experimental-Investigational

Hyperbaric Medicine is facing a growing crisis: The determination by several national insurance providers that HBOT for Radiation Necrosis should be categorized as “experimental-investigational”. This national determination essentially eliminates the use of HBOT for patients with radiation injuries. Forty to sixty percent of all HBOT treatments are related to patients with Radiation Necrosis, thus this determination presents a monumental threat to the clinical practice of Hyperbaric Medicine.  

What Can I Do?

Contribute Case Data!

The Radionecrosis Registry will serve as a repository for pooled data collected from several hundred hyperbaric facilities across the United States. This de-identified data will then be analyzed and serve as the basis for reporting outcomes and success rates for the use of HBOT in the management of the various categories of radiation injury. These results will then be compared to historical controls and the natural course of this disease in patients without HBOT. This information will then be used in our effort to advocate for reconsideration and reversal of this determination.

In comparison to other hyperbaric indications, radionecrosis requires a greater number of treatments to realize benefit. These cases of radiation injury substantiate a 40% share (per unit billing cost) of the HBOT treatment market at current patient volumes. For most hyperbaric programs, loss of the revenue generated from this therapy will lead to program closure, as they will no longer be self-supporting. The ACHM is already seeing a "chilling" effect as hospitals are postponing entry into the field of hyperbaric medicine until the full impact of the BCBS decision is assessed. In the meantime, chamber sales and program startups will decrease steadily. At the present time, three states (Idaho, Pennsylvania and Hawaii) are affected by the BCBS central office recommendation for non-payment of these services. Over the next twelve months, the remaining forty-seven states will make their own determinations.