The following policies were recently reviewed for annual update. The full texts of these policies are available in the Provider section of bcbsri.com:

• Acute Inpatient Rehabilitation Level of Care
• Allergy Testing
• Ambulance Air and Water Transport
• Autonomic Nervous System Testing Using Portable Automated Devices
• First Trimester Detection of Down Syndrome Using Fetal Ultrasound Markers
• Gender Affirming Care
• Home Prothrombin Time Monitoring
• Intra-Articular Hyaluronon Injections for Osteoarthritis
• Long Term Acute Care Hospital (LTACH)
• Myoelectric Prosthetic and Orthotic Components for the Upper Limb
• Navigated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
• Out-of-Network Services Requests
• Prior Authorization of Spinal Procedures
• Private Duty Nursing
• Radioembolization for Primary or Metastatic Tumors of the Liver
• Salivary Estriol as Risk Predictor for Preterm Labor and Management of Menopause and/or Aging
• Serum Tumor Markers for Breast and Gastrointestinal Malignancies
• Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF)
• Speech Therapy
• Transtympanic Micropressure Applications as a Treatment of Meniere’s Disease
• Ultrasonographic Measurement of Carotid Intima-Medial Thickness as an Assessment of Subclinical Artherosclerosis

We also post monthly drafts of medical policies being created or reassessed for your review. As a reminder, you can provide comments on draft policies for up to 30 days. Draft policies are located on the Provider homepage, under the Medical Policies section, under the “Draft Medical Policies” drop-down.