Laser Light Treatment Gizmos are Just Gizmos

Premier Physical Therapy runs a daily ad in the Chicago Tribune. I've been asked if it's legitimate so I'm hoping someone can answer the question. Thanks in advance for any input.

http://www.ptnerve.com/



..........................................................

A couple years ago I was deep into finding out about the different light and laser gadgets and gizmos... er, that is: medical treatment devices. I know they've been brought up on this list before. Maybe hit internet search for Anodyne.

Despite FDA approval, use of MIRE devices including Anodyne for anything isn't supported in scientific literature. A lot of what I came up with about the Anodyne is supported/repeated here:

https://www.cms.hhs.gov/mcd/viewdecisionmemo.asp?id=176
http://www.regence.com/trgmedpol/dme/dme63.html

The sticky thing about these things is that most insurance, including Medicare won't want to cover treatment associated with using them, but it's very easy to be vague (or even misleading) on a claim form when describing the treatment.

Since they are FDA approved, used by P.T.'s in clinical settings, and covered by insurance, sounds like legitimate mainstream medicine to me.

N-

P.S. The cool thing is that you can find yourself a tad richer when you turn in the fraudsters who are billing Medicare for this. http://www.cms.hhs.gov/FraudAbuseforConsumers/01_Overview.asp#TopOfPage