Enhancing a Good Vibe

It’s one thing to make a gizmo that may have some application in the world of medicine. It’s quite another to persuade the managed care industry to cover it as a medical expense.

Innovative Tracking Solutions Corp. wants to hold clinical tests to show possible medical applications for a small item that it already markets for other uses. The light item, which can fit in the palm and sticks to the skin, vibrates like a pager and is sold through infomercials as a device that reminds the wearer to exercise.

However, the company wants to prove that the device can also be used to remind patients with orthopedic casts to flex their muscles, thereby reducing their loss of range of motion, muscle atrophy and other complications.

Last week, the Laguna Hills company said it aims to present the item to Kaiser Permanente in the hope the managed care company will approve clinical trials on its members.

Diana Petitti, Kaiser’s director of research evaluation in Southern California, said she hadn’t received the company’s application yet. However, she said the HMO receives many such requests each year--and rejects many. While Kaiser approves protocols for research, she said, even products that prove safe and effective in its trials aren’t necessarily covered by its health plans.

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Barbara Marsh covers health care for The Times. She can be reached at (714) 966-7762 and at [email protected].