By Cheryl Carver, LPN, WCC, CWCA, FACCWS, DAPWCA, CLTC
I was thinking back to the days when I worked as a hyperbaric technologist. Hyperbaric medicine has significantly evolved over the past decade. Many things stick out in my mind, such as criteria for insurance payor reimbursement, hyperbaric dosing, and regulatory standards, to name a few. Those were the days when we had to fax hyperbaric research articles and case studies to the utilization review departments of insurance companies. Ninety-nine percent of the time, panel review board members didn't know what hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) was. I would also get asked, "Do you mean 'bariatric'?" (instead of hyperbaric). The legwork seeking prior authorization for HBOT was dreadful during that time.