Inspire Medical Systems
(NYSE:INSP) has announced that Cigna will provide insurance coverage for the company’s Inspire obstructive sleep apnea therapy beginning this week. Cigna insures approximately 16 million members in the U.S., the minimally invasive sleep apnea treatment developer noted.
The addition of Cigna brings the total of insurance policies covering Inspire to 54, representing over 180 million individuals compared to 83 million one year ago, the Minneapolis-based company said in a news release.
In addition to the 54 commercial coverage policies, Inspire therapy will soon have Medicare coverage across the entire United States. The final Medicare administrative contractor, Palmetto GBA, announced its final local coverage decision (LCD) policy date release of June 21, 2020, for covering Inspire therapy.
“Importantly, the Cigna policy and all of the Medicare LCD policies became, or will become, effective during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we anticipate that these collective policies position us well to further accelerate growth once the impact of COVID-19 subsides,” said Inspire president & CEO Tim Herbert in the release.
Under its policy, Cigna considers Inspire’s FDA-approved hypoglossal nerve neurostimulation device to be medically necessary for the treatment of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea when specified criteria are met, including a previous attempt at continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment.