Kentuckiana Pain Specialists Outlines Choices For Pain Management

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KPS

Kentuckiana Pain Specialists urges Louisville Medicare patients to keep pain pump care going now and hold spinal cord stimulation trials until plans settle

A plan switch should never interrupt a pump refill, so keep that care going. A stimulator trial that has not started is the one thing I would hold until January.” - Ajith Nair, M.D., Medical Director, Kentuckiana Pain SpecialistsLOUISVILLE, KY, UNITED STATES, November 4, 2026 /EINPresswire / -- Kentuckiana Pain Specialists is advising Medicare patients in Louisville, Anchorage, Prospect, Lyndon, Jeffersontown and Crestwood to keep pain care already underway moving now while they compare plans before the December 7 open enrollment deadline. Medicare Advantage insurers fully or partially denied 7.7% of prior authorization requests in 2024, according to KFF. Intrathecal pain pump therapy refills can continue under current coverage. Patients switching plans should time spinal cord stimulation trials not yet started for after January 1.

Medicare open enrollment runs from October 15 through December 7, 2026, and changes take effect January 1, 2027, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. For people living with chronic back, neck or nerve pain, the choice made in that window decides who approves the next procedure, not only what the monthly premium costs.

Does prior authorization transfer to a new Medicare Advantage plan?

Only partly, and only for care already in progress. Under a federal rule finalized in 2023, a coordinated care Medicare Advantage plan must give a new member who is in an active course of treatment a transition period of at least 90 days before it can require new prior authorization for that treatment. A procedure that has not begun does not carry that protection, so the new plan reviews it from the start.

Of the denials KFF counted, only 11.5% were appealed, and 80.7% of those appeals overturned the original decision. Ajith Nair, M.D., the practice's founder and medical director, reads those numbers as a reason to ask questions before switching and to appeal when a denial looks wrong.

What pain treatment should continue during Medicare open enrollment?

In the practice's view, treatment that is already working should continue on schedule. That includes pump refills, follow-up visits and spinal injections that are part of an established plan. Stopping a pump refill or delaying a scheduled follow-up to wait out a coverage change carries more risk than the paperwork it avoids.

When should a spinal cord stimulator trial wait until January?

A trial that has not yet been scheduled is the procedure worth holding when a patient expects to change plans. A stimulator trial is a short test period with temporary leads, and a successful trial is usually followed by implantation of the device weeks later. If the plan changes between the two, the implant may face a fresh review by an insurer that never approved the trial. Patients keeping the same plan have no reason to wait.

Staff at the practice verify coverage and handle authorization before procedures are scheduled. Patients weighing a switch can ask the office which upcoming treatments need approval and which plans on their shortlist the practice accepts.

Who is giving this guidance?

Ajith Nair, M.D., founded Kentuckiana Pain Specialists and serves as its medical director. A 1992 graduate of Kasturba Medical College, Dr. Nair is board certified by the American Board of Anesthesiology, including the Pain Medicine subspecialty, as well as the American Board of Pain Medicine and the American Board of Addiction Medicine. Dr. Nair is a Gratis Clinical Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery at the University of Louisville and has implanted thousands of targeted drug delivery pumps. Dr. Nair is available to speak with reporters about Medicare coverage and interventional pain care. This release is general information, not medical or insurance advice.

About Kentuckiana Pain Specialists: Kentuckiana Pain Specialists is an interventional and integrative pain medicine practice at 3710 Chamberlain Ln, Suite A, Louisville, KY 40241, with a second office in Radcliff. The practice serves patients across Louisville, Anchorage, Prospect, Lyndon, Jeffersontown and Crestwood, offers spinal cord stimulation, intrathecal pain pump therapy and epidural steroid injections, and accepts more than 17 insurance plans. The office phone, (502) 995-4004, is answered 24 hours a day. More information is available at href="" rel="external nofollow" target="_blank">kentuckianapainspecialists.

Ansh Shah
KPS

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