INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 may cause severe pneumonitis and trigger a massive inflammatory response that requires ventilatory support. The intensive care unit (ICU)-mortality has been reported to be as high as 62%. Dexamethasone is the only of all anti-inflammatory drugs that have been tested to date that has shown a positive effect on mortality. We aim to explore if treatment with hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) is safe and effective for patients with severe COVID-19. Our hypothesis is that HBO can prevent ICU admission, morbidity and mortality by attenuating the inflammatory response. The primary objective is to evaluate if HBO reduces the number of ICU admissions compared with best practice treatment for COVID-19, main secondary objectives are to evaluate if HBO reduces the load on ICU resources, morbidity and mortality and to evaluate if HBO mitigates the inflammatory reaction in COVID-19 … –
Tag: hyperbaric oxygen
CMS ends hyperbaric oxygen treatment experiment despite savings
The CMS will not continue an experiment that saved Medicare millions of dollars by reducing the use of non-emergency hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
The treatment uses pressurized oxygen to help expedite wound healing, particularly for diabetic wound care. Since the CMS launched the experiment in 2015, its spending per beneficiary per quarter dropped by $60, according to a report released Monday by the CMS. Federal data shows the experiment saved the government $17.6 million by 2017.
Only Illinois, Michigan and New Jersey participated in the prior authorization experiment for non-emergency hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Those states were chosen because of their high utilization and improper payment rates.
The demonstration ended in February 2018, and the savings it generated didn’t harm quality of care, according to the report … read more