Medicare started paying for lumbar fusions that use Carlsmed's Aprevo personalized interbody implants on October 1. CMS created three new diagnosis codes and payment rates for the procedures in its fiscal 2027 inpatient final rule.
Carlsmed (Nasdaq: CARL) also named Tony Jarc to a new role, chief product and AI officer. Jarc spent 15 years at Intuitive, most recently as vice president for digital products and machine learning, and takes over the platform work including the surgical user interfaces. Two other seats changed hands in the past month: Richard Heppenstall arrived from ZimVie as CFO, and Jeff Bertolini was promoted to COO from senior vice president of operational excellence.
Dedicated codes matter more here than the payment amount. They let a hospital bill the personalized procedure on its own terms instead of mapping it onto a generic fusion code, which is usually the step that unblocks a service line.
A bilateral Aprevo procedure and the Corra cervical procedure are next on the launch list. The Aprevo interbody for cervical fusion went out in December 2025.