Commenter:       Besner, Lance
Title:     Psychiatrist
Organization:     Private Practice
Date:     08/10/2006
Comment:

I am a private practice psychiatrist in Erie, PA.
After graduation from the State University of New
York at Buffalo School of Medicine I went
straight into practice, sixteen years ago. I
will send my CV on a separate e-mail because I
see that no attachments can be made.

I am writing to strongly encourage VNS Therapy
for the relatively small subset of the population
of people suffering from MDD who have not
responded to traditional treatments. These
patients have no where else to turn and no future
without hope for successful treatment. I have
studied the available data for the past several
years and have been very excited about offering
this treatment to my patients. Sadly the
patients I have referred for this treatment are
unable to receive it because Medicare or
Commercial insurance plans are not willing to
cover the treatment.

I believe that by not approving this treatment we
are doing a tremendous disservice to our patients
and if there is an available treatment we owe it
our patients to make sure it is readily available
and a covered expense by the insurance companies.

Thank you for your consideration,

Lance A. Besner, M.D.

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MCD/viewpubliccomments.asp?nca_id=195&expand=Y#0807200609062006A