Sarah Kliff and Katie Thomas

In an about-face, the administration is cracking down on so-called skin substitutes, overused treatments that cost Medicare more than $10 billion last year.

Medicare spending on “skin substitutes” made of dried placenta has soared as doctors pocket lucrative discounts from sellers.

Seven medical supply companies made suspicious claims involving thousands of Medicare beneficiaries, an advocacy group found.

More surgeons are opting for a complicated hernia repair that they learned from videos on social media showing shoddy techniques.