Another short but not so sweet blog for you to, I hope, act upon ASAP. Medicare (coverage for the elderly and/or the disabled) in addition to forbidding the use of sedation for patients undergoing injections, is now forbidding the epidural use of Depo-medrol, our longest lasting corticosteroid. The recommended replacement, Decadron, typically has a shorter duration of action. In other words, if you have Medicare and you have chronic pain, you are now being denied a very standard, tried and true, safe pain management protocol.