Sample Patient Letter

To Whom It May Concern:

     I suffer from chronic wounds, including diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers or pressure wounds.  My wounds were very painful and difficult to treat and I was very worried that my wounds might never heal.  I am grateful to my doctors for treating me with skin substitutes that healed me, and allowed me to resume my life.  For that reason, I was shocked to learn that the Medicare program is proposing to eliminate coverage of over 200 skin substitute products and to restrict treatment to only four uses of the product.  I strongly urge you to not move forward with your coverage policy, which I understand is called the proposed Local Coverage Determination (LCD) “Skin Substitute Grafts/Cellular and Tissue-Based Products for the Treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcers and Venous Leg Ulcers.”

     I understand the proposed LCD would eliminate Medicare coverage for the vast majority of skin substitute products, and also limit treatment to only four applications of a skin substitute product.  These coverage restrictions would mean that if I need care in the future, I would not be able to benefit from skin substitutes for my painful, chronic wounds, which could lead to sepsis and amputations.  Skin substitutes are effective and have worked for me.  And Medicare should, and must, cover these products so that doctors can use their best medical judgment to treat patients like me.

     It is wrong for you to create a “one size fits all” limit.  Each wound, including the wound I had and future wounds I may get, is different, and my doctors need to use their best medical judgment to treat me.  It is wrong for Medicare to tell me and my doctor that it already knows which products will work for me and which won’t, and that I need no more than four treatments.  The possibility that Medicare would deny coverage for critical wound care products for me and other patients is simply unbelievable.  Please do not move forward with this proposed Medicare coverage policy.  Thank you.

                                                                        Sincerely,