The British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) has released an updated statement for its surgeons regarding Bupa's plans to review arthroscopic knee operation referrals.
However Bupa said the new version still contained inaccuracies which it was hoping the BOA would amend.
It follows further communication between the two parties and discussions with the British Association for Surgery of the Knee (BASK) and the Federation of Independent Practitioner Organisations (FIPO).
BASK and FIPO were co-signers along with the BOA of a highly critical open letter to members about Bupa's proposals to review whether funding would be provided for arthroscopic knee surgery procedures.
The letter has since been withdrawn and a new version released which is only accessible to members from the BOA website.
In a statement to COVER, Dr Annabel Bentley, medical director of Bupa Health and Wellbeing, explained the provider's stance.
"We are pleased that the BOA has withdrawn its original Communication to all Orthopaedic Surgeons about Bupa's medical review process for knee arthroscopy and issued a revised version," she said.
"However, it still contains some inaccuracies which we have asked the BOA to amend.
"We have a duty to pay only for treatment that meets published evidence-based guidelines and Bupa considers that continuing the knee arthroscopy review process is in the best interests of our customers and supports clinical best practice," she added.
Dr Bentley also reiterated the reasons for the introduction of the process, highlighting that it was seeing double the rates of these operations compared to the NHS and in some circumstances surgeons were referring three times as many.
She further noted that this was purely a decision about providing funding for the surgery, not whether the surgery should go ahead.
In a message posted on its website the BOA said it had issued a further updated statement "Following: Last Tuesday's BOA Council meeting; Further direct communication with BUPA in order to ensure that we have accurately understood their proposals as well as reflecting Council's concerns; Together with the views of a significant number of our members who have contacted us, BASK, and more discussions with FIPO."
A BOA spokesperson added that discussions were still ongoing between the two parties.
