AppliedVR, an immersive therapeutics firm, introduced that Pittsburgh-based Highmark, a Blue Cross Blue Protect-affiliated well being insurer, would be the first well being plan to cowl RelieVRx, AppliedVR’s FDA-cleared digital actuality providing to deal with continual low again ache.
Eligible Highmark members 18 years and older identified with reasonable to extreme continual low again ache will be capable of get a prescription for RelieVRx with out prior authorization.
California-based AppliedVR’s RelieVRx (previously EaseVRx) is a totally immersive digital actuality expertise supposed to empower individuals with the talents wanted to handle continual low again ache and a non-pharmacologic possibility to cut back ache.
With RelieVRx, sufferers undergo a 56-session multimodal program that features day by day digital actuality periods that make the most of regulation and mindfulness expertise, in addition to methods from cognitive behavioral remedy to assist them management their signs.
“We’re dedicated to leveraging know-how to reinforce well being outcomes whereas decreasing prices,” Matt Fickie, senior medical director for Highmark, stated in an announcement. “RelieVRx from AppliedVR gives our members affected by continual low again ache a scientifically backed, in-home immersive non-opioid remedy possibility.”
Addressing the thousands and thousands of people that expertise continual low again ache, AppliedVR cofounder and chief govt officer Matthew Stoudt stated that people who battle low again ache deserve entry to noninvasive, drug-free choices that empower them to self-manage their ache.
“Highmark’s forward-thinking strategy acknowledges the promise of immersive therapeutics, and we’re grateful for his or her collaboration. RelieVRx is predicated on many years of medical proof demonstrating the transformative potential of immersive therapeutics to reshape the physique’s response to ache, and we’re dedicated to constructing a fair larger physique of proof that continues to set the trade normal,” Stoudt stated.
THE LARGER TREND
In April, Lovell Authorities Companies partnered with AppliedVR to be its federal distribution accomplice to help gross sales by means of authorities healthcare techniques just like the Veterans Well being Administration (VHA), the Navy Well being System (MHS), and Indian Well being Companies (IHS).
In March, AppliedVR introduced that the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Companies (CMS) established a Healthcare Widespread Process Coding System (HCPCS) Degree II code (E1905) that covers its flagship product, the RelieVRx program.
In February, AppliedVR and Kernal, a precision drugs firm, introduced a joint research measuring the affect of VR ache remedy on the mind. The one-blind, sham-controlled design in contrast mind activation patterns and physiological metrics earlier than, throughout and after VR experiences in individuals experiencing continual low again ache.
In August, Highmark introduced that greater than $800,000 in “BluePrints for the Group” grants had been awarded for Q2 2024. The grants handle varied neighborhood wants, together with enhancing entry to healthcare and offering financial stability to people and households.
In July, Highmark Well being Choices West Virginia launched a managed care group (MCO) and the primary Blue Cross Blue Protect-branded MCO to serve West Virginians.
