New payment rates will lead to limited supply, shuttered businesses, and reduced access to care for patients with chronic wounds
WASHINGTON, July 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The MASS Coalition firmly opposes the drastically reduced 2026 payment rates for skin substitutes in the proposed Physician Fee Schedule released yesterday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). This change will have devastating consequences for patients suffering from chronic wounds who rely on life-saving skin substitute treatments. Without access to this crucial care, these patients will be much more likely to experience chronic pain, amputations, and premature deaths.
While the MASS Coalition supports restructuring the payment rates to a commonsense amount and methodology that works across all parties, the new rate of $125 per sq. cm. for 2026 proposed by CMS ignores the realities of manufacturing, distributing and applying these treatments. The proposed rate does not consider the true cost associated with the full supply chain of skin substitutes and unquestionably overlooks the impact severely lowered rates will have on rural care across the country. As a result, the companies producing skin substitutes will no longer be able to operate, providers won’t be able to afford to continue to treat many within their patient base, and the patients most in need will be the ones who suffer greatest. CMS has taken an already broken system and dismantled it beyond repair with its proposed rates. The MASS Coalition calls on CMS to fix their error and institute appropriate payment rates for skin substitutes. American lives depend on it.
Media Contact: Lauren Hughes, (202) 974 5010
SOURCE MASS Coalition
