Insurance Companies May Soon Cover Maggot Therapy
Friday, November 21, 2008 |
FoxNews.com
Putting maggots on infected wounds is a medicinal practice that dates back to before the Roman Empire.
Now, maggot therapy has received backing from the The American Medical Association and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, myfoxcleveland.com.
That means patients who receive the therapy could be reimbursed for it.
"Maggot debridement therapy, or medicinal maggots refers to a type of sterile, intentional biological larval or biosurgical debridement that uses disinfected maggots to clean wounds by dissolving the dead and infected tissue and by killing bacteria," according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The treatment is listed under "Debridement" for coding purposes.
