Dear List,

There has been recent discussion on the hbo-list about Medicare
reimbursement issues for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. As Dr. Wilmeth pointed
out, a recent accounting showed Medicare believes that roughly 60% of
reimbursements should not have been made.

Yesterday I spoke with an official at HCFA, Kate Tillman [410/786-9252] who
confirmed that Medicare is reviewing reimbursement decisions for Hyperbaric
Oxygen Therapy. One of the things she referenced was a paper prepared by
the national office of Blue Cross/Blue Shield for Kaiser in which they
discovered that there there is only valid scientific evidence to support
only four of the 13 approved indications, and so there is some thought
[because of the 60% of questionable reimbursements] to limit the
reimbursements to only those four indications that have the science to
substantiate the use of HBOT.

This lack of science was pointed out in a lecture to the UHMS by Dr. Paul
Harch in April, 1999. During this same lecture, Dr. Harch detailed the
physiology of HBOT on the body tissue for the 13 approved indications--then
he explained the physiology of HBOT on neurological tissue.

It's the same physiology.

Ironically, the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society tried to have the
medical licenses of both Dr. Neubauer and Dr. Harch revoked for treating
brain-injured children with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.

The good news. Even though it appears that there is a risk that 9 of 13
UHMS approved indications will lose Medicare reimbursement, Ms. Tillman
said there is a new policy in place [as of April, 1999] that will allow
private citizens to present information/data so as to get other indications
approved, i.e., Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for cp and other brain injuries.

The pdf file attached documents the procedure.

Ms. Tillman also said they've always relied on the Undersea and Hyperbaric
Medical Society in the past because they don't know who else to turn to,
but they would rather have more sources of information than just the UHMS.
Not only that, HCFA doesn't require double-blind controlled studies.

Guess what moms and dads. Here's another reason why your kids have gotten
SPECT-scans. Let's get our collective heads together on this and figure out
how to send all this to HCFA. We've got more scientific data to support the
use of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for cp kids than 9 of the 13 UHMS
indications.

There's a very real possibility that our children just might save
Hyperbaric Medicine.

The stone which the builders rejected Is become the head of the corner.
[Psalm 118:22]



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form
of tyranny over the mind of man." --Thomas Jefferson, an early advocate of
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.
----------------------------
David Freels
2948 Windfield Circle
Tucker, GA 30084-6714
USA
770/491-6776 (phone and fax)
509/275-1618 (efax, sends fax as email attachment)
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