UPDATE: Uroplasty said Friday that NHIC Corp., the Medicare carrier for Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, will cover its posterior tibial nerve stimulation to treat overactive bladder effective May 22. The decision adds approximately 1.8 million patients to those already covered by other regional Medicare carriers, and makes the Uroplasty treatment coverage available to approximately 31 million Medicare beneficiaries in 35 states.

About a year ago, the folks at Uroplasty Inc. called and asked if I wanted my tibial nerve stimulated.

Of course I was intrigued.

Executives at the Minnetonka-based med-tech firm wanted to demonstrate their Urgent PC Neuromodulation System for the treatment of overactive bladder. The system calls for a needle to be inserted near the ankle, and then a battery-powered stimulator sends electrical impulses to a group of nerves at the base of the spine called the sacral nerve plexus that controls bladder activity.

The company says half of the people enrolled in a 220-patient clinical trial who were treated with the system urinated less frequently and with less urgency.

Now that a new Medicare billing code is in effect, Medicare and private insurers have steadily signed up to cover the procedure, which takes 12 office visits. (Medicare reimbursement for the treatment is $1,600.)

On Tuesday, Uroplasty said health care behemoth United Healthcare has signed on to cover Urgent PC, as well as the Medicare carrier for Kentucky. Excellus BlueCross/BlueShield, a regional insurer in New York, was added to the coverage mix, too. The plans cover about 35 million people, some of whom, no doubt, suffer from overactive bladder.

CEO David Kaysen was understandably with the news. "In reality, reimbursement is critical," he said. "If you don't have it, you frankly don't have a company."

By the way, I never did get my tibial nerve stimulated last spring. I made the PR guy do it instead.

Janet Moore covers medical technology for the Star Tribune.