Resources: Combat Potential Improper Use of Skin Substitutes

With the use of skin substitutes by Part B wound care providers becoming more prevalent, LeadingAge is following the phenomenon.

A data snapshot published by the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) in September 2025 notes rising Medicare Part B expenditures over the past two years for skin substitutes, wound care material that acts as a temporary or permanent replacement for damaged skin. At the end of 2024, expenditures $10 billion annually.

The analysis by OIG raised four key concerns: 1) large increases in the amount of product billed for each enrollee, 2) a massive gap in spending between Part B and Medicare Advantage, 3) providers' propensity to shift to more-and-more expensive products, and 4) potential fraudulent schemes uncovered by OIG.

Many of these providers target individuals in home-based environments with increasingly devastating results for Medicare beneficiaries.

Accountable for Health, a nonpartisan national advocacy and policy analysis organization focused on accountable care, has created a resource center for the issues they are seeing in the use of skin substitutes including patient stories. Additionally, they have created a one-pageron how the mis-use of these products are creating patient harm.