Honey Dressings

Alginate: Highly absorptive, non-occlusive dressing derived from brown seaweed or kelp.

Antimicrobial dressing: Delivers a sustained release of antimicrobial agents to the wound, to eradicate bioburden.

by the WoundSource Editors

By Aletha Tippett MD

How often have you thought about using honey in a wound dressing? Never? In twenty years of wound care, honey was always something that could be used – sometimes by itself on a wound, or sometimes with other dressing material used on a wound.

By Michel H.E. Hermans, MD

In the June 2015 issue of the Journal of Ostomy Wound Management, Bell et al. published an article in which they reacted to the recent decision by CMS (January 22, 2015) to change its HCPCS code for a Manuka honey dressing for Medicare Part B patients to a non-covered code. Apparently, this ruling was based on the fact that the dressing is impregnated with more than 50% (by weight) honey. The authors, rightly so, stated that this would be a major loss for a significant number of patients who, under the previous ruling, would have been able to use the dressing as a reimbursed material. Indeed, this specific dressing is one of the materials with a good record with regard to clinical proo

By Colton Mason

Medicare has recently made a significant change to several wound care dressings with honey-based components. The Medicare contractor (PDAC) which assigns reimbursement codes to wound care products made the decision to change HCPCS codes for honey-based dressings containing more than 50% medical honey to A9270. I have been working with a market leading brand in this product category, MediHoney® (Derma Sciences), to ensure everyone has the most up-to-date information regarding this recent Medicare Policy change. Here is the information that the manufacturer has compiled to help healthcare providers make educated decisions for prescribing honey-based dressings in lieu of the recent changes from Medicare: