CMS Issues Technical Corrections Affecting Skin Substitute Coding and Payment (CY 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule)

1. Corrected Pricing and Status in CMS Addenda
The correction notice updates how skin substitute HCPCS codes are classified and priced under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule addenda — essential for accurate claims submission and reimbursement.

2. Alignment With Policy Intent
The technical corrections ensure that the published payment tables reflect CMS’s policy decisions from the original CY 2026 PFS final rule, preventing mispricing or misclassification of skin substitute services. 

3. Immediate Applicability for CY 2026 Claims
Because these errors were in the published final rule, the corrections apply retroactively to January 1, 2026, helping clinicians and coders align billing practices with CMS expectations for the year. 

Health care clinicians, billing professionals, and wound care stakeholders should be aware of a technical correction published on March 12, 2026, by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that affects skin substitute product coding and payment under the CY 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS). This correction notice amends the original CY 2026 PFS final rule published November 5, 2025, which sets Medicare Part B payment policies for the upcoming calendar year.¹ 

The correction itself is narrow in scope, focusing on typographical or technical errors in the original rule text and accompanying payment tables. However, several updates directly concern skin substitute HCPCS coding and payment classifications.

The March 12 document clarifies and corrects the way skin substitute product codes are listed and priced in the official Medicare payment addenda (Addendum B) — the reference file CMS uses for physician fee schedule payments under Medicare Part B.¹

Key Corrections in Addendum B

• Multiple skin substitute HCPCS codes previously omitted or misclassified in Addendum B have been updated to active pricing status (“Procedure Status A”) with set relative value units (RVUs), aligning with CMS’s intent for these services under the PFS. 
• Codes such as A2025, A2029, A2031, A2032, A2034, A2036, A2038, A2039, and A4100 were corrected to receive active pricing with a non-facility work and total RVU of 3.81. 
• Several Q-series codes originally listed with incorrect inactive (“E”) status have been updated with appropriate statuses (such as “C” or contractor pricing) and included in the updated Addendum B files. 
• Other codes (e.g., Q4106 and Q4226) were removed because they were incorrectly placed in the original addenda. 

These corrections ensure that providers have the accurate code status and associated payment values needed for proper Medicare Part B billing for skin substitute products in 2026.¹

Providers and billing teams should review the updated CMS addenda files on the CMS website and consult their Medicare Administrative Contractors if questions arise about specific code status or reimbursement rates.

1. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Medicare and Medicaid Programs; CY 2026 Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule and Other Changes to Part B Payment and Coverage Policies; Medicare Shared Savings Program Requirements; and Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate Program; correction. Fed Regist. 2026;91(48):12071-12073. Published March 12, 2026. Accessed March 12, 2026. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/03/12/2026-04797/medicare-and-medicaid-programs-cy-2026-payment-policies-under-the-physician-fee-schedule-and-other