New Medicare Policy Allows Seniors to Choose Crystalens™

Expanded Reimbursement Includes Breakthrough Presbyopia-Correcting Intraocular Lens Now Available at Michigan Eye Institute.
 
The crystalens™ procedure now can be privately purchased by Flint, Fenton, Lapeer and Oxford Medicare beneficiaries thanks to a new Medicare policy announced this week. Crystalens is the first and only FDA-approved naturally focusing (accommodating) vision-correction lens replacement for adults with cataracts and presbyopia. 

Crystalens is the most advanced intraocular lens (IOL) currently available, yet the previous Medicare reimbursement policy did not allow its beneficiaries to opt for this breakthrough technology for cataract surgery. 

“I perform thousands of cataract surgeries each year.  Yet, as vision technologies advanced, Medicare reimbursement hasn’t kept pace.  I know first-hand the tremendous results patients can achieve with crystalens.  Now my Medicare patients have access to the same vision and lifestyle benefits previously only available to individuals under 65,” said ophthalmologist Jeffrey Diskin, M.D., MEI Cataract Specialist of Michigan Eye Institute.

Seniors on Medicare now can opt for the presbyopia-correcting crystalens, which focuses and moves in the eye like the natural lens thanks to its proprietary accommodating characteristics.  The crystalens is designed to treat two conditions: cataract removal with lens replacement (a procedure covered by Medicare) and presbyopia (a non-covered service).  Patients who select crystalens will receive the standard Medicare reimbursement for cataract surgery, and can now pay privately for the presbyopic portion of the treatment. 

Presbyopia is an inevitable age-related eye condition that makes it difficult to read or see objects up-close without the use of reading glasses.  Presbyopia is the first sign of a cataract and is the most prevalent eye condition in America.  It causes the crystalline lens to increasingly stiffen, lose flexibility and cloud, diminishing its focusing ability. 

Crystalens corrects vision at all distances and in most cases eliminates the need for glasses and contacts for everyday tasks.  Its ability to focus at all distances frees most patients from the need for glasses following cataract surgery.  In clinical trials, nearly three-times the number of patients (85 percent) who received the crystalens could see at all distances compared to a standard IOL.  By using the eye’s muscle to move the lens back and forwards naturally, patients can focus through a continuous range of vision including near, far and everywhere in between.  All other intraocular lenses are designed to remain fixed in the eye. 

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