The American Medical Association has issued a new Category III current procedural terminology (CPT) code for the Bindex measurement from Bone Index Ltd., based in Helsinki, Finland, to help physicians in diagnosing osteoporosis.

“In osteoporosis screening and diagnostics area, it has taken about 20 years since the last new code and therefore this new CPT code is a huge step for healthcare operators to provide highly needed osteoporosis examinations,” says Ossi Riekkinen, PhD, CEO of Bone Index. “This is also very strong evidence that Bindex is a new and unique medical device [that] provides significant improvement in osteoporosis screening and diagnostics in [the] US.”

The Bindex point-of-care device measures the cortical bone thickness of the tibia and the algorithm calculates the Density Index, a parameter that estimates bone mineral density at the hip as measured with DXA. Bindex detects osteoporosis with 90% sensitivity and specificity and was developed to help physicians with diagnosis significantly.

Bone density scans are mostly performed in hospitals with large dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry machines that come with high costs. “This is why Bindex is a game-changer,” says Riekkinen.

Bindex has a total of 19 patents globally including the US, China, Japanand large European countries.