INSIGHTEC Announces Expansion of Positive Insurance Coverage for MR-guided Focused Ultrasound to Treat Essential Tremor

Coverage will now include Medicare in 38 states and 19 Blue Cross Blue Shield plans

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Feb 25, 2019, 06:00 ET

HAIFA, Israel and MIAMI, Florida, Feb. 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- INSIGHTEC^®, a global medical technology innovator of incisionless surgery, today announced that Noridian has posted a positive Local Coverage Determination for MR-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) effective April 1, 2019. Medicare beneficiaries in 38 US states will now have coverage for the incisionless treatment for essential tremor that has not responded to medication.

"Continued momentum for insurance coverage is vital to ensure that the estimated 10 million Americans living with essential tremor have access to focused ultrasound," said Maurice R. Ferré MD, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of INSIGHTEC. "Incisionless brain surgery provides another option in the physician's armamentarium for patient care."

"Treatments that show durable tremor relief and do not require an open surgical procedure are appealing to patients," said Nader Pouratian, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of Functional Neurosurgery and Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at UCLA. "Insurance coverage is an important force in making innovative treatment options available to patients."

Noridian coverage will include the following 13 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. The status of additional LCDs is available on the Medicare Coverage Database on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) website.

MRgFUS is currently a Medicare covered benefit in Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

About INSIGHTEC
INSIGHTEC is a global medical technology innovator transforming patient lives through incisionless brain surgery using MR-guided focused ultrasound. The company's award-winning Exablate Neuro™ device is FDA-approved to treat medication-refractory essential tremor and tremor-dominant Parkinson's disease. Research for future applications in the neuroscience space is underway in partnership with leading academic and medical institutions. INSIGHTEC is headquartered in Haifa, Israel, and Miami, Florida, with offices in Dallas, Tokyo and Shanghai.

For more information, please visit: http://www.insightec.com/.

Forward-looking Statements
This document contains forward-looking statements regarding, among other things, plans, expectations, and future events. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the following words: "may," "can," "will," "could," "would," "should," "expect," "intend," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "project," "potential," "promise," "continue," "ongoing," or the negative of these terms. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or implied by the statements. Any forward-looking statement is based on information available to INSIGHTEC as of the date of the statement. All written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to INSIGHTEC are qualified by this caution. INSIGHTEC does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect any change in circumstances or in INSIGHTEC's expectations.

"Exablate," and "Exablate Neuro," as well as the "INSIGHTEC" logo, whether standing alone or in connection with the word " INSIGHTEC", are protected trademarks of INSIGHTEC.

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SOURCE INSIGHTEC