Osiris Therapeutics Updates On Proposed Ruling By CMS - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Osiris Therapeutics Inc. (OSIR), a stem cell company focused on developing products in orthopedics, sports medicine and wound care, said Friday that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released their proposed ruling for the reimbursement of skin substitutes in the hospital outpatient setting.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS, decided to package the reimbursement for products used in advanced wound care with the related surgical procedure into a two-tier system, the company said.

The proposed ruling means that the current payment methodology for Grafix will not immediately be impacted by the changes described in the proposed ruling. Grafix is a human cellular matrix containing living stem cells for acute and chronic wounds.

According to Osiris, Grafix will maintain its current transitional pass-through status and that may continue until late 2015.

Also, Grafix will be exempt from the current rule and available to patients in the Hospital Outpatient Department and Ambulatory Surgical Center settings under the current Ambulatory Payment Classification payment system.

Once the transitional pass-through status expires, Osiris expects Grafix to be reimbursed as a part of a packaged rate in the higher tier of the two-tier system.