EXPAREL One of the Newest Dental Codes for 2019
Arlington, Va. – Dominion National, a leading dental insurer and administrator of dental and vision benefits headquartered in Arlington, Va., announced a new initiative to lead the fight against the opioid epidemic. Effective January 1, 2019 Dominion will cover certain non-addictive opioid treatment alternatives, including EXPAREL. The covered procedure is called the “infiltration of sustained release therapeutic drugs.”
More patients are requesting non-opioid alternatives for post-operative pain control, including oral surgery procedures such as wisdom teeth extractions. Sustained release therapeutic drugs, such as EXPAREL, are injected at the surgical site during the procedure and can relieve pain for the first few days after surgery.
According to a recent article in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, dentists prescribed 18 million opioid prescriptions between July 1, 2016 and June 30, 2017.1 According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 11.4 million Americans misused opioids in 2017.2
Opioid misuse and abuse has reached alarming levels and we want to make alternative treatments as accessible as possible for our customers and providers. Non-opioid pain treatment options have proven to be effective and we believe we will see a lot of adoption.
Mike Davis
Dominion President
About Dominion National
Dominion National, incorporated in 1996, is an agile and innovative provider and administrator of dental and vision benefits. Dominion serves over 900,000 members, including leading health plans, employer groups, municipalities, associations and individuals among its diverse client base. For more information, please visit DominonNational.com or follow Dominion National on Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.
- Guy, G. P. & Zhang, K. Opioid Prescribing by Specialty and Volume in the U.S. American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2018). doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2018.06.008.
- National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), Sept 2017.