After several quarters of flagging sales, big makers of spinal devices have started reporting a new source of pressure on the $7.1 billion market: insurance companies.
Health insurers have long raised hurdles for various spinal procedures, but they appear to be ramping up these efforts, particularly when it comes to spinal-fusion surgery amid insurers’ views that such procedures are overused. Some of the spine industry’s biggest companies–Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Stryker Corp. (SYK), Swiss firm Synthes Inc. (SYST.VX) and Zimmer Holdings Inc. (ZMH)–all recently signaled pressure on reimbursements as a factor behind the market’s doldrums.
The comments came on second-quarter …
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