Twelve years after it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a procedure that can help patients with sinusitis is finally accepted by all the major insurance carriers in Richmond.

Anthem was the last insurer to begin considering balloon sinus dilation medically necessary earlier this month, said Dr. Michael Armstrong with Richmond’s Ear, Nose and Throat Specialists. Before it changed its policies, the insurer considered the procedure “investigational.”

Armstrong, who helped conduct studies on the procedure when it was initially hitting the market, first completed balloon sinus dilation in 2007, he said, and sings its praises as a less painful way to deal with sinusitis, with a far shorter recovery time.

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