The Future of “Skin Substitutes” - What’s the Alternative?

SmartTRAK reviews possible alternatives to LCDs and CMS’ proposed payment model for Cellular, Acellular, and Matrix-like Products (CAMPs) commonly referred to by Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as “skin substitutes” and the potential impact on the market.

SmartTRAK attended the Wound Care Influencers Resolution Consultation (WCIRC) Meeting held August 1st , 2025 in Washington, DC, where clinical stakeholders, manufacturers, reimbursement experts, legal counsel and distributors discussed possible alternatives to local coverage determinations (LCDs) and the recently released payment models for the Physician Fee Schedule and Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS).  In this article we will look at the potential market impact of some of the alternatives proposed at WCIRC.

Download the full article for an in-depth look at WCIRC’s proposed alternatives, their market impact, and other related topics, such as:

• A Summit Overview
  • Kerser Med Comms and the Serena Group brought together 49 thought leaders from clinical practice and industry to attend WCIRC, a one-day summit on evidence and reimbursement ... (read more)
• The Alternative Payment Rates for Skin Substitutes
  • CMS’ recently proposed rule sets the payment rate for skin substitutes for both the non-facility (i.e. office, home) and the hospital outpatient (HOPD) settings ... (read more)
• Future Rate Setting
  • One provision of Senator Cassidy’s bill on skin substitutes is to tag the reimbursed price of skin substitutes to the increase in the consumer price index (CPI) for all urban consumers instead of being based on the actual ASPs ... (read more)
• NCD vs LCD
  • During the summit, another discussion focused on whether or not to push for an NCD vs the future effective LCDs ... (read more)
• Our Conclusions
  • SmartTRAK believes that Medicare spending in this category has become untenable for CMS, making change inevitable ... (read more)

Click the button below to download and learn about possible alternatives to LCDs and CMS’ proposed payment model in the complete "The Future of Skin Substitutes - What’s the Alternative?" article by Jay Merkel, SmartTRAK Sr Analyst, Wound.

SmartTRAK is the Medtech industry’s only global Insights-as-a-Service solution for the Orthopedics, Wound Care, Regenerative Medicine and Neuro Therapy markets. SmartTRAK’s proprietary methodology turns disparate data from hundreds of sources into powerful insights customers can rely on as the trusted source for strategic decision-making. The SmartTRAK enterprise platform includes rich daily updates, comprehensive market coverage and simple-to-use tools and dashboards for market, product and financial analysis. Customers leveraging the SmartTRAK platform also have direct access to market experts for inquiries and advisory services. If you would like a demo of what SmartTRAK has to offer and see how we can help increase proficiency, improve productivity and reduce costs for your company, just click here.