Skin Substitute Access and Payment Reform Act of 2025

The Skin Substitute Access and Payment Reform Act of 2025 (S. 2561) would reform how Medicare pays for skin substitute products—advanced wound-care materials used to treat chronic, non-healing wounds. The bill creates a single consolidated billing and payment code for all skin substitute products and establishes a new, standardized payment rate for these products starting January 1, 2026. The payment would be a volume-weighted average derived from 2023 data, with annual updates for inflation beginning in 2027. It also sets rules to ensure skin substitute products are evaluated for reasonable and necessary use without relying solely on limited clinical evidence, while preserving provider choice and limiting additional reporting burdens on manufacturers. In short, the bill aims to reduce price variation and incentivize cost containment while maintaining access to skin substitute therapies, by creating a unified payment framework and automatic updates tied to the Consumer Price Index, and by clarifying the definition and coverage rules for these products.