Payers, Regulators Push for Limits on 2 Chronic Pain Treatments

As the use of spinal cord stimulators and pain pumps − two treatment options that research suggests are helpful to a small number of patients − increases, workers' compensation insurance carriers and regulators are pushing back.SCS devices are implanted under the skin with electrodes inserted into a person's back to deliver electrical stimulation to the spine, intercepting pain signals sent to the brain. Pain pumps, more formally called intrathecal drug delivery systems, are implanted so as to deliver injections of morphine or other drugs into the spine. Both are designed ...