Trans1 announces progress toward goals

Medical device-maker Trans1 has several pieces of good news to share with stakeholders. In a conference call with analysts Thursday, officials of the Wilmington-based company discussed fourth quarter operating results as well as progress in gaining physician reimbursement for its spinal fusion procedures.Trans1 CEO Ken Reali told analysts “We have made good progress on our payor reimbursement and coding strategy, and recently announced coverage by a number of payors including Palmetto GBA, a Medicare carrier, and Health Care Services Corporation, a Blue Cross Blue Shield carrier.”In  recent months, Trans1 has announced that several other insurance companies, such as Health Spring, a Medicare Advantage Plan in 11 states and the District of Columbia, have come aboard.Reali also repeated an announcement that the company made earlier in the week.
“The Current procedural Terminology, or CPT, Editorial Panel has voted to approve an application for a Category I CPT code for L5-S1 spinal fusion utilizing our pre-sacral interbody fusion approach with our AxiaLIF implant.”
That decision by the panel, along with decisions by private payors, mean that surgeons who use Trans1’s AxiaLIF and spinal fusion procedure can be reimbursed. The Category I code will be issued effective Jan. 1, 2013.
“The increasing clarity around physician reimbursement gives us additional confidence to prudently deploy capital to support continuing reimbursement efforts, hire additional sales personnel to support revenue growth, re-initiate surgeon training and fund clinical research and product development activities,” Reali said.Reali also said that Trans1 is continuing to cooperate with a request by the federal Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General, which subpoenaed documents from the company in October 2011.
“No claims have been made against the company at this time,” Reali said.
Company CFO Joe Slattery said that fourth quarter 2011 worldwide revenues of $4 million represented a 15 percent decrease from those of third quarter 2011, and a 32 percent decrease from fourth quarter 2010. He said that Trans1 is transitioning its direct distribution model in Germany to an agency model, to maintain relationships in Europe while focusing most of Trans1’s financial resources on the domestic market.
Trans1 has operated on as lean a basis as possible in recent quarters, but is increasing its expenditures on research and development and clinical trials. It also devoted resources to the launch of its new VEO lateral system.Reali said that he looks at plans for the company’s sequential growth in terms of three levers.
“Number one, it’s maintaining the AxiaLIF base of business we have today,” he said. “Number two is growing AxiaLIF where we have payor coverage today and getting traction that way. And number three is the success of our VEO lateral system.”While pressing these three levers, Reali continued, Trans1 is preparing for the Code I issuance next January, which will increase the company’s revenues.
“And we’re optimistic about the second half of (2012), we’ll start getting year-over-year revenue growth,” he said.
Source:Jenny Callison.http://www.wilmingtonbiz.com