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On April 3, 2006, HEALTHPOINT, Fort Worth, TX, began sales of the Collagenase Santyl ointment product line. The marketing and selling of the products build on HEALTHPOINT's recent purchase of the topical collagenase business from BioSpecifics Technologies Corporation, Lynbrook, NY.

 

Collagenase Santyl ointment is a sterile enzymatic ointment used to debride pressure ulcers, chronic dermal ulcers, and severely burned areas by digesting collagen, a major component of devitalized tissue. The enzyme collagenase is derived from the fermentation of the bacterium Clostridium histolyticum.

 

HEALTHPOINT also announced that as of January 1, 2006, the American Medical Association has released 2 new current procedural terminology (CPT)* codes that are relevant to the application of OASIS products. In addition, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has introduced a new HCPCS Level II code relevant to OASIS products.

 

The new code descriptions are detailed below for easy reference:

 

The OASIS Wound Matrix is a bioresorbable, 3-dimensional, cell-free matrix derived fromporcine small intestinal submucosa that is indicated for the management of partial and full-thickness wounds, such as venous ulcers and diabetic foot ulcers.

  
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*CPT is copyright 2005, American Medical Association. All rights reserved.

 

Information: http://www.healthpoint.com

 

Consensus Guidelines for the Treatment of Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathic Pain (DPNP), authored by the American Society of Pain Educators (ASPE), Montclair, NJ, have been published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, a journal of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN. For the first time, these guidelines provide health care professionals with a definitive and consistent treatment strategy for the management of pain associated with diabetes. The ASPE Consensus Guidelines for DPNP were designed to help improve treatment outcomes and minimize medical errors for the estimated 1 million individuals who have diabetes and debilitation DPNP.

 

The guidelines were developed under an educational grant from Eli Lilly and Company, Indianapolis, IN, and were jointly sponsored by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, and the ASPE. They were published as a continuing medical education supplement in the April 2006 issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

 

Information: http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com; http://www.paineducators.org