A review of American insurance coverage and criteria for conservative management of lymphedema

Objective: Lymphedema affects >1 in 1000 Americans, most often resulting from breast cancer surgery. Conservative treatment, such as compression garments, combined decongestive therapy (CDT), and pneumatic compression pumps, is the current standard of care. Despite the wide availability of these therapies, lymphedema has remained undertreated worldwide. We investigated whether third-party insurance coverage might be a barrier to obtaining conservative treatment in the United States. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of publicly accessible insurance policies. A total of 58 insurers were included in accordance with their state enrollment data and market share. The analysis was conducted using a web-based search and individual telephone interviews. For those policies that extended coverage, the medical necessity criteria were abstracted. Results: A total of 50 insurance companies (86%) had a policy in place addressing conservative management. Included in 37 policies (64%), compression garments were covered the least often (n = 33; 89%). Although CDT was included in only 22 policies (38%), it was universally covered. Noncalibrated pneumatic compression pumps were the most frequently addressed intervention (n = 46; 79%), significantly more often than CDT (P < .01) and were universally covered, significantly more often than were compression garments (P < .04). Criteria for reimbursement were present for more than one half of the policies that provided coverage. Conclusions: A large proportion of U.S. insurers provided coverage for conservative treatment of lymphedema. However, only 38% of the policies included a statement of coverage for CDT. Most of the policies that did provide coverage for these four therapies also had multiple criteria that were required to be met before considering reimbursement. These requirements could create barriers to the receipt of treatment.