AMA Urges CMS to Withdraw Proposed Coverage Limits on Peripheral Nerve Blocks
The American Medical Association (AMA) has sent a formal letter to CMS Administrator Mehmet C. Oz, MD, MBA, urging the agency to withdraw or delay proposed Local Coverage Determinations (LCDs) that label peripheral nerve blocks and other chronic pain procedures as “experimental” or “investigational.”
Five Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) proposed LCDs earlier this year that would eliminate coverage for well-established peripheral nerve block (PNB) and denervation procedures. ASRA Pain Medicine, along with several other members of the Pain Medicine Coalition, six additional pain societies, and three state societies, submitted a resolution to the AMA, which was adopted at the AMA House of Delegates' November meeting.
In the letter, the AMA warned that the proposed policies would restrict patient access to evidence-based, non-opioid pain treatments and force clinicians to rely on less appropriate or higher-risk alternatives, reinforcing that peripheral nerve blocks are proven, widely supported interventions that improve pain, function, and quality of life for many patients with chronic pain.