Becker's Spine Review

6 SPINE SURGEONS Top 20 hospitals for neurology & neurosurgery, by US News & World Report By Carly Behm U niversity of California San Francisco Medical Center led U.S. News & World Report's 2021-22 rankings for best hospitals for neurosurgery and neurology. U.S. News & World Report evaluated 1,248 hospitals and ranked the top 50 that treat neurological conditions. Here are the top 20 hospitals for neurosurgery and neurology: Note: Some hospitals were tied in ranking based on their scores. 1. University of California San Francisco Medical Center 2. New York Presbytarian Hospital-Columbia and Cornell (New York City) 3. Rush University Medical Center (Chicago) 4. Johns Hopkins Hospital (Baltimore) 5. New York University Langone Hospitals (New York City) 6. Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.) 7. Cleveland Clinic 8. University of California Los Angeles Medical Center 9. Northwestern Memorial Hospital (Chicago) 10. Mount Sinai Hospital (New York City) 11. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles) 12. Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston) 13. Stanford (Calif.) Hospital 14. Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbytarian (Philadelphia) 15. University of Michigan Hospitals-Michigan Medicine (Ann Arbor) 16. Mayo Clinic-Jacksonville (Fla.) 17. Barnes-Jewish Hospital (St. Louis) 18. Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston) 19. University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas) 20. Long Island Jewish Medical Center (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) n Lumbar disc replacement coverage case against Aetna to move forward By Carly Behm A lawsuit over Aetna Life Insurance's spine surgery cov- erage that was originally dismissed in 2019 will now go forward, according to a motion granted June 11. Brian Hendricks and Andrew Sagalongos were recommended lum- bar artificial disc replacement surgery and are each covered by Aet- na, according to the lawsuit. Aetna allegedly denied both of their re- quests, saying the procedure was "experimental or investigational." In 2019, District Judge Cormac J. Carney ruled the lawsuit didn't have enough information and that Mr. Hendricks needed to specify the terms that would entitle him to benefits under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Mr. Carney has now allowed Mr. Hendricks and Mr. Sagalongos' class of 239 patients to litigate the allegations. The class is de- fined as, "All persons covered under Aetna Plans, governed by ERISA, self-funded or fully insured, whose requests for lumbar artificial disc replacement surgery were denied at any time within the applicable statute of limitations, or whose requests for that surgery will be denied in the future, on the ground that lumbar artificial disc replacement surgery is experimental or investiga- tional, and whose denials will be subject to abuse of discretion review by the district court." n Insurer sued for allegedly refusing to cover spinal stabilization device By Carly Behm A Florida woman is suing Anthem, alleging that the insur- ance company didn't cover a spine device that should have been covered under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, designed to provide protections to as well as setting rules for employer-sponsored health insurance plans. The plaintiff, Brenda Honeycutt, works for a financial services com- pany based in Alameda County in California. She had a spinal de- compression procedure done with the Coflex interlaminar stabili- zation device to treat spondylolisthesis, according to a lawsuit filed July 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Ms. Honeycutt, who was covered under an ERISA health plan, received a letter from Anthem on May 11 saying her claim for surgery with the device was denied. Anthem's letter said the denial was on the basis that the Coflex device was "experimental/investigational," the lawsuit said. The FDA considers Coflex a class 3 medical device, which "usually sustain or support life, are implanted or prevent potential unrea- sonable risk of illness or injury," according to court documents filed July 27. n

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