LifeNet Health Product DermACELL AWM® Now Available to Nearly 12 Million At Risk Seniors

News provided by

Mar 27, 2014, 01:12 ET

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., March 27, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Recent healthcare coverage decisions could offer relief to the nearly twelve million Medicare-eligible Seniors across 15 States, based on estimates from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid. Senior citizens with diabetes are at risk to develop diabetic foot ulcers and venous leg ulcers - hard-to-heal wounds that are involved in nearly two-thirds of all non-traumatic lower limb amputations each year.

Novitas, a Part A and Part B contractor, has updated their respective Local Coverage Determinations to cover DermACELL AWM, an acellular dermal matrix (ADM), for the treatment of non-progressing diabetic foot ulcers and venous stasis ulcers. Effective March 27, 2014, DermACELL will be covered for use in the Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington DC, Northern Virginia and New Jersey.

DermACELL is an Acellular Dermal Matrix (ADM) that is used to treat diabetic foot ulcers and other chronic wounds. Created from donated human tissue, it goes through a validated and patented process called MATRACELL®, which renders the DermACELL graft acellular, without compromising the biomechanical or desired biochemical properties of the graft. This process is gentle, yet robust enough to ensure the native scaffold, vascular channels, growth factors, and proteins are preserved to assist in the healing of the wound.

In addition to the Novitas region, DermACELL is eligible for coverage in the Palmetto GBA region, which consists of West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

On July 1, 2013, DermACELL AWM was assigned pass-through status under Medicare's outpatient prospective payment system. Pass-through status facilitates reimbursement for the application of DermACELL when used on Medicare patients with chronic wounds. This status covers the grafts used in treating the Medicare patients with dermal wounds in the hospital operating room or in a freestanding surgical suite. Reimbursement is subject to Medicare eligibility and other Medicare requirements.

About LifeNet Health
LifeNet Health helps to save lives and restore health for thousands of patients each year. LifeNet Health is world's most trusted provider of transplant solutions, from organ procurement to new innovations in bio-implant technologies and cellular therapies—a leader in the field of regenerative medicine, while always honoring the donors and healthcare professionals that allow the healing process. For more information about LifeNet Health, go to www.LifeNetHealth.org.

About Skin and Wound Allograft Institute
The Skin and Wound Allograft Institute (SWAI) is a wholly owned subsidiary of LifeNet Health. The Institute was created to improve treatment modalities for patients and to be a leader in research and innovation in allograft biological dressing care. SWAI provides allograft biological dressings for acute and chronic wound and reconstructive surgical applications.

SOURCE LifeNet Health