With two announcements late last Friday, NuVasive's reimbursement worries became largely a thing of the past. Aetna and United Healthcare both announced that they will cover XLIF, reversing non-coverage policies and allowing the procedure to shed its "investigational" status.
NuVasive said they "[worked] diligently" directly with payors to reverse the decisions, a strategy they would "continue to pursue." The company had the support of NASS in their efforts; the organization released a paper earlier this year that called the "experimental" designation "not justified."
Though procedure volumes seemed largely to be holding up since the news broke last fall that Aetna and UHC are among the payors who had deemed XLIF "investigational," the stock had suffered on the public markets. The stock closed up 35%, at $40.00, on Friday.
