Personal Injury Law

Doctors Successfully Repel Aetna?s Unwarranted Intrusion Into How They Perform Colonoscopies

After coming under attack from doctors, Aetna has withdrawn its intention, announced late last year, that in New Jersey, effective April 1, 2008, it would drop its coverage of propofol, the anesthesia typically used during colonoscopies, calling the same ?medically unnecessary.? In reality, it is not the propofol that Aetna minds paying for; what Aetna wants to cut-out is the $300 to $1,000 cost that Aetna pays for an anesthesiologist to be present at a colonoscopy. Propofol, also known by the trade name Diprivan, is more powerful than other sedatives traditionally used to help patients endure the discomfort of a colonoscopy. Because of the powerful effects of the drug, good and accepted medical practice usually necessitates the presence of a qualified anesthesiologist during the procedure.

Full post as published by Legal Blog on March 24, 2008 (boomark / email).