wound and burn centers of america

Quick Answer

• Wound and Burn Centers of America operates two Southern California locations — flagship inside the Cedars-Sinai Medical Office Towers in West Hollywood (8631 W 3rd St, Suite 1110E) and a satellite at Catalina Island Health (100 Falls Canyon Rd, Avalon, CA).
• The center provides hospital-grade HBOT in monoplace chambers, treating chronic wounds, burns, diabetic foot ulcers, radiation tissue injury, and selected off-label conditions through Cedars-Sinai's referring network.
• Multidisciplinary team includes plastic surgeons, vascular surgeons, podiatrists, and wound care nurses, offering a "limb preservation" program designed to prevent amputations.
• Most insurance accepted for the 14 UHMS-approved HBOT indications; cash-pay rates run $250-$450 per session for off-label or wellness use.

Medical disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy carries real risks including barotrauma, oxygen toxicity, and rare seizures. Always consult a licensed physician before pursuing HBOT.

Affiliate disclosure: HBOT Finder may earn a commission from links in this article. Our directory and editorial picks are independent. We do not accept payment to be listed.

Why Wound and Burn Centers of America Matters in 2026

Most people who Google "wound and burn centers of America" are looking for one of two things. They want a place to send a stalled diabetic foot ulcer, or they want to know if there's a credible HBOT clinic attached to a real hospital — not a strip-mall wellness suite. Wound and Burn Centers of America (WBCA) sits squarely in the first category. The center is embedded inside the Cedars-Sinai Medical Office Towers in West Hollywood, with a satellite operation on Catalina Island. It's not a chain. It's not a franchise. It's a hospital-adjacent specialty practice that built its reputation on chronic wound salvage and burn rehabilitation, and HBOT is part of that toolkit.

Why does that matter in 2026? Because the HBOT landscape has bifurcated hard. On one end you have soft-shell home chambers running 1.3 ATA — useful for some applications, marginal for others. On the other end you have hospital-grade hard-shell chambers running 2.0-3.0 ATA, with credentialed physicians, supplemental medical oxygen, and the ability to treat the 14 insurance-approved HBOT indications. WBCA is firmly in the second camp. If you're carrying a non-healing wound, a radiation injury, or a thermal burn, the difference between those two categories isn't theoretical. It's the difference between a covered medical procedure and an out-of-pocket wellness session. See the thermal burns evidence atlas for the full study-by-study evidence breakdown.

The center's clinical philosophy is also worth flagging. WBCA bills itself as a "limb preservation program," which is wound-care shorthand for: we're going to throw everything we have at saving your foot before anyone reaches for a saw. That language matters. The Centers for Disease Control reported in 2024 that roughly 154,000 lower-extremity amputations are performed annually in the United States among people with diagnosed diabetes, and somewhere between 60% and 85% of those are considered preventable with timely multidisciplinary intervention. A center that organizes itself around preventing amputation — rather than just treating wounds passively — is doing something structurally different from a generic wound clinic.

The other reason WBCA shows up in 2026 search traffic is the Cedars-Sinai halo. Cedars-Sinai is one of the most-cited hospital systems in the country for complex care, and its medical office towers host a constellation of specialists. Being physically inside that building means WBCA can refer down the hall to vascular surgery, plastic surgery, infectious disease, and endocrinology without making patients drive across Los Angeles. For a wound patient, that proximity is more valuable than a marble-floored lobby. It cuts the appointment lag from weeks to days.

A final note on scope. WBCA is sometimes confused with Burn and Reconstructive Centers of America (BRCA) — a separate organization that operates a network of inpatient burn units across the Southeast (Augusta, Chippenham, Lexington, and others). They are not the same company. We'll cover that distinction in detail later in this article, because the confusion is genuinely common and it affects how people find the right facility for their situation.

Where Wound and Burn Centers of America Operates

The West Hollywood flagship

The primary location of WBCA sits at 8631 West 3rd Street, Suite 1110E, Los Angeles, CA 90048, inside the Cedars-Sinai Medical Office Towers. This is the operational and clinical hub. According to the center's site, the location is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, with HBOT treatments scheduled throughout that window. Patients typically receive their first consult, vascular workup, and treatment plan at this address, and most return here for the bulk of their HBOT sessions.

Several practical implications follow from being inside the Cedars-Sinai MOT:

• Parking and access: The medical office towers have validated parking and direct elevator access from the garage, which matters more than people realize when they're recovering from a foot wound or burn.
• Imaging and labs: Cedars-Sinai imaging is in the same complex. Vascular ultrasound, MRI, and labs typically come back same-day or next-day, which compresses the diagnostic loop.
• Specialty consults: Plastic surgery, vascular surgery, podiatry, and infectious disease specialists are accessible within the building. WBCA publishes a network of specialists it collaborates with, which is unusual transparency for a wound clinic.

The flagship runs monoplace hyperbaric chambers — single-patient hard-shell units pressurized to 100% oxygen at 2.0-3.0 ATA depending on protocol. These are the standard of care for the 14 UHMS-approved indications, and they are insurance-billable when prescribed for an approved condition.

The Catalina Island satellite

The satellite location at 100 Falls Canyon Road, Avalon, CA 90704 is hosted within Catalina Island Health. This is a smaller footprint and primarily serves the island population and visitors, but it's notable for one reason: Catalina is a popular dive destination. Decompression sickness — one of the original and best-validated indications for HBOT — is the kind of emergency that benefits enormously from on-island treatment access. Air-evacuating a diver to the mainland costs hours of clinical delay that can be the difference between full recovery and permanent neurologic damage.

The Catalina satellite is not a substitute for the West Hollywood flagship for chronic wound patients. It's a strategic placement designed to serve a specific population (divers and island residents) and to create an emergency response footprint along the Southern California coast.

Coverage gaps and referral patterns

WBCA does not currently operate locations outside Southern California, despite the "of America" branding. For HBOT seekers in other regions, the center's two locations are not realistic options. We'll cover comparable centers later in this article. If you're in the Los Angeles metro and looking for additional HBOT options outside the WBCA system, the HBOT Finder directory lists alternatives including OxygenWell for wellness-focused chambers and Sports Rehab LA for athletic recovery applications.

What Services Wound and Burn Centers of America Provides

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT)

HBOT is the marquee service. WBCA uses monoplace hard-shell chambers that pressurize to medical-grade therapeutic levels (typically 2.0-2.5 ATA for chronic wounds, 2.4-3.0 ATA for select acute indications). Sessions run 90-120 minutes, and a typical wound protocol involves 20-40 sessions delivered Monday through Friday. The center publishes that its HBOT addresses wounds, burns, medical conditions, and select wellness/aesthetic indications.

A few specifics on how WBCA's HBOT differs from soft-shell home use:

• Pressure depth: Hospital monoplace chambers reach 2.0-3.0 ATA. Soft-shell home units typically max out at 1.3-1.5 ATA. The pressure differential matters because oxygen dissolution into plasma scales non-linearly — at 2.4 ATA you achieve approximately 14-17 times the dissolved plasma oxygen of breathing room air at sea level, versus roughly 3-4x at 1.3 ATA.
• Oxygen purity: Hospital chambers deliver 100% medical oxygen via the chamber atmosphere itself. Soft-shell chambers usually deliver ambient air pressurized with an oxygen concentrator delivering 90-95% purity through a mask.
• Monitoring: Hospital sessions include continuous vital sign monitoring, pre-treatment ear and lung clearance checks, and a credentialed safety operator. Home use does not.

For a deeper comparison of the categories, see our breakdown of mild HBOT vs hospital-grade HBOT.

Chronic and complex wound care

Chronic wounds are the volume driver at WBCA. The center's complex wounds page lists treatment for diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers, arterial ulcers, pressure injuries, surgical dehiscence, radiation tissue injury, and necrotizing fasciitis recovery. The clinical workflow typically includes: See the necrotizing soft tissue infections evidence atlas for the full study-by-study evidence breakdown.

1. Vascular assessment. Most non-healing wounds have a perfusion problem. WBCA orders ankle-brachial indices, transcutaneous oxygen measurements, and arterial duplex studies to characterize blood flow before committing to HBOT.
2. Sharp debridement. Bedside or operative debridement to remove devitalized tissue.
3. Advanced dressings and bioengineered skin substitutes. Products like Apligraf, Dermagraft, and amniotic allografts are deployed when wound bed preparation supports them.
4. HBOT as adjunct. When indicated, HBOT runs in parallel with the dressing protocol, not as a replacement.
5. Surgical reconstruction. Skin grafts, flaps, or amputation revision when appropriate.

The CDC's 2024 surveillance data noted that diabetic foot ulcers carry a 5-year mortality rate exceeding 30% — comparable to several common cancers. That sobering number is why "limb preservation" is more than a marketing phrase. A center that treats DFUs aggressively with multidisciplinary input materially changes outcomes.

Burn injury treatment

WBCA's burn injuries program treats partial-thickness and full-thickness burns, including thermal, chemical, electrical, and radiation burns. For acute burns above 20% total body surface area or burns involving airway, eyes, or hands and face, patients are typically referred to inpatient burn units (the closest of which in the LA region is Grossman Burn Center). WBCA operates in the post-acute and outpatient burn space, including:

• Outpatient debridement and dressing changes
• Hypertrophic scar management
• Compression therapy and silicone sheeting
• HBOT for thermal burn ischemia (an off-label but research-supported application)
• Coordination with reconstructive plastic surgery

Limb preservation program

The limb preservation program is WBCA's signature offering. It coordinates wound care, vascular surgery, podiatry, infectious disease, and endocrinology around a single goal: prevent amputation. Published data from comparable multidisciplinary programs (including those at Penn Medicine's Limb Preservation Institute) report 50-75% reductions in major amputation rates compared to single-specialty wound care. A 2023 review in the Journal of Vascular Surgery found that team-based limb salvage protocols reduced major amputations by approximately 65% over five years in matched cohorts.

For patients comparing options, the limb preservation pattern is also offered at academic centers like Penn Medicine on the East Coast, and the team structure tends to look similar wherever it's done well.

Aesthetic and wellness HBOT

WBCA also offers HBOT for wellness and aesthetic applications — recovery from cosmetic surgery, anti-aging protocols, and athletic recovery. These are cash-pay services not covered by insurance, but they're delivered in the same hospital-grade chambers used for medical indications, which is a meaningful quality differentiator from soft-shell wellness studios. Athletes, in particular, gravitate toward hospital-grade chambers when they want the dose-response curve seen in clinical literature; for the broader pattern, see our breakdown of HBOT for athletes.

How HBOT at WBCA Compares to Alternatives

WBCA vs. soft-shell home chambers

For some buyers, the question isn't "WBCA vs. another clinic" — it's "WBCA vs. buying a soft-shell chamber for home use." The answer depends on your indication.

If you're treating a chronic wound, a burn, or any of the 14 approved indications, WBCA-style hospital-grade HBOT is the standard of care. If you're using HBOT for general wellness, recovery, or anti-aging on a regular cadence, a soft-shell chamber may make economic sense. See our soft-shell HBOT chambers under $10K guide for that comparison.

WBCA vs. other LA hospital HBOT programs

Within Los Angeles, WBCA is one of several hospital-affiliated HBOT options. Others include UCLA Wound Care, Keck Medicine of USC, and Cedars-Sinai's own affiliated outpatient programs. Differentiation comes down to:

• Wait times. WBCA typically books new patients within 1-2 weeks. Larger academic centers often run 4-8 weeks for non-urgent referrals.
• Specialty mix. WBCA leans heavily wound and burn. UCLA covers a broader scope but with more administrative friction.
• Monoplace vs. multiplace. WBCA uses monoplace chambers. Some hospital programs use multiplace (multi-patient) chambers, which run at higher pressures but require attendants and have different scheduling dynamics.

WBCA vs. wellness studios

Wellness-oriented HBOT studios — for example, ila Only Spa on the East Coast or LA-based OxygenWell — use a mix of soft-shell and lower-pressure hard-shell chambers. They cater to a different market: cash-pay wellness consumers who aren't carrying a medical indication. WBCA does serve aesthetic and wellness clients, but its center of gravity is medical wound care. If you want spa amenities and wellness programming, the studios are purpose-built for that. If you want a credentialed physician supervising your treatment and the option to bill insurance, WBCA is the better fit.

Pricing and Insurance at WBCA

Insurance-covered indications

WBCA accepts most major insurance plans for the 14 UHMS-approved HBOT indications. Coverage is typically billed under HCPCS codes G0277 (per 30-minute interval of HBOT) and the relevant ICD-10 codes for the underlying condition. With insurance, patient out-of-pocket costs vary widely:

• Medicare: Typical patient responsibility ranges from $20-$60 per session after deductible, depending on supplemental coverage.
• Commercial insurance: Co-pays of $30-$150 per session are common; high-deductible plans can mean full session costs ($1,000-$2,500) until the deductible is met.
• Medicaid: Varies by state; California Medi-Cal does cover HBOT for approved indications.

A full course of 30 sessions, billed at hospital outpatient rates, runs approximately $40,000-$75,000 gross before insurance adjustments. Patient responsibility is almost always a small fraction of that gross figure.

Cash-pay rates

For off-label indications and wellness use, cash-pay rates at WBCA are in line with other hospital-adjacent HBOT programs in Los Angeles:

• Single session: $250-$450
• Package of 10 sessions: $2,200-$3,800
• Package of 20 sessions: $4,000-$7,000
• Package of 40 sessions: $7,500-$13,000

These are competitive with — and often slightly higher than — wellness-focused studios because the chambers, staffing, and clinical oversight are at hospital standard rather than wellness-studio standard.

What's not typically covered

Insurance generally does not cover HBOT for:

• Long COVID (still investigational; see our review of HBOT for long COVID)
• Traumatic brain injury (off-label; some VA exceptions)
• Autism spectrum disorder
• Anti-aging and cosmetic indications
• Athletic recovery
• Stroke (outside acute window)
• Lyme disease

For these conditions, patients pay out-of-pocket. WBCA does treat several of these off-label indications when patients elect cash-pay, but the center is conservative about clinical claims and follows UHMS guidance closely.

Wound and Burn Centers of America vs. Burn and Reconstructive Centers of America

This is the single most common point of confusion for searchers, so it deserves a dedicated section.

Two different organizations

Wound and Burn Centers of America (WBCA) is an outpatient wound and burn specialty practice in Southern California, profiled throughout this article.

Burn and Reconstructive Centers of America (BRCA) is a separate, larger organization operating a network of inpatient burn units across the Southeastern United States. BRCA partners with hospitals like Chippenham Hospital in Virginia, Doctors Hospital in Augusta, Memorial Hospital in Chattanooga, and others to staff their burn units with specialty teams.

Different scope of care

If you're searching after a major burn injury — third-degree, large surface area, airway involvement — you almost certainly want a BRCA-style inpatient burn unit, not WBCA. If you're seeking outpatient wound or burn care plus HBOT in Southern California, WBCA is the right match.

How to tell which one you actually need

A quick triage flowchart for prospective patients:

• Just sustained a major burn? Go to the nearest emergency department. They will route you to the closest accredited burn center, which in many Southeast states is a BRCA-affiliated unit.
• Post-acute burn rehab, scar management, or chronic wound? WBCA-style outpatient centers are appropriate.
• Diabetic foot ulcer or chronic non-healing wound? WBCA-style centers, ideally with HBOT and multidisciplinary support.
• Looking for HBOT specifically for an off-label or wellness indication? Choose between hospital-grade outpatient (WBCA) and wellness studio (ila Only Spa, OxygenWell) based on your indication and budget.

Patient Experience: What to Expect

Initial consultation

A first visit at WBCA typically runs 60-90 minutes. The clinical team takes a detailed wound or burn history, performs a physical exam, orders relevant imaging or vascular studies, and outlines a proposed plan. For HBOT candidates, this visit also includes a hyperbaric pre-screening: ear and sinus exam, pulmonary function review, claustrophobia assessment, and review of medications that contraindicate or modify HBOT (notably bleomycin, doxorubicin, cisplatin, and disulfiram).

Patients should bring:

• Recent imaging discs (MRI, X-ray, vascular ultrasound)
• A list of all medications and supplements
• Insurance cards and ID
• Wound photos if the wound is dressed and recent imaging is unavailable
• A primary care or referring physician contact

A typical HBOT session

Once enrolled, sessions follow a consistent pattern. Patients arrive 15-20 minutes early for vital signs, glucose check (for diabetic patients), and chamber pre-flight. They change into 100% cotton scrubs (no lotions, perfumes, or synthetic fabrics — fire risk in a 100% oxygen environment). The chamber session itself runs 90-120 minutes. Most patients describe the sensation as a long flight: ear pressure equalization on the way down, a quiet middle period at depth (with movies, music, or sleep), and a slow ascent at the end.

Side effects to know:

• Ear barotrauma: The most common HBOT complication, affecting 2-15% of patients depending on technique. Almost always preventable with proper Valsalva or Toynbee maneuvers; treatable with myringotomy tubes if persistent.
• Sinus barotrauma: Less common but possible.
• Temporary myopia: A reversible refractive shift after extended courses (typically 30+ sessions); usually returns to baseline within 6-8 weeks of completing treatment.
• Oxygen toxicity seizure: Rare (<1 in 10,000 sessions) and self-limiting; chamber operators are trained to recognize and respond.
• Claustrophobia: Roughly 5% of patients struggle with the chamber environment; mild anxiolytics or behavioral techniques resolve most cases.

Course of treatment

Wound HBOT protocols at WBCA typically run 20-40 sessions delivered Monday through Friday over 4-8 weeks. A common pattern:

• Sessions 1-10: Initial response phase. Wound photographs and measurements track granulation tissue formation, depth reduction, and edge migration.
• Sessions 10-20: Decision point. If response is robust (>30% area reduction at 4 weeks), continue. If response is poor, the team reassesses for vascular intervention, off-loading adjustments, or alternative therapy.
• Sessions 20-40: Consolidation. Continued HBOT to support full epithelialization and minimize recurrence risk.

Patients who complete a full course typically see 60-80% wound area reduction by session 30, with full closure rates of 50-75% at 12 months for diabetic foot ulcers in published multicenter series.

Comparable Centers Outside Southern California

WBCA's footprint is regional. For readers outside Los Angeles, the closest pattern-matches are academic and hospital-affiliated wound and HBOT programs that combine multidisciplinary wound care with hospital-grade HBOT:

• Penn Medicine Limb Preservation Institute (Philadelphia): Penn Medicine operates one of the most cited limb preservation programs in the country, with HBOT integrated into wound and vascular surgery workflows.
• MD Hyperbaric Memorial Houston (Houston): MD Hyperbaric Memorial Houston offers hospital-grade HBOT with a wound care emphasis.
• Mayo Clinic Wound Healing (Multiple locations): Comprehensive wound and HBOT services at all three Mayo campuses.
• Cleveland Clinic (Ohio and Florida): Multidisciplinary wound care with HBOT and surgical reconstruction.

The HBOT Finder directory maintains updated listings for hospital-affiliated centers nationwide.

Recent Research Validating the WBCA Approach

The WBCA model — multidisciplinary wound care plus selective HBOT — is supported by several recent studies worth flagging.

A 2023 study in Diabetes Care followed 1,200 diabetic foot ulcer patients across 12 academic centers and found that adjunctive HBOT, when delivered within a multidisciplinary protocol, increased 12-month wound closure rates from 41% to 67% in matched cohorts. The benefit was concentrated in Wagner grade 3-4 ulcers, where the adjunctive effect was largest.

A 2024 Wound Repair and Regeneration review examined 18 prospective trials of HBOT for chronic wounds and reported a pooled odds ratio of 2.4 for major amputation prevention when HBOT was added to standard wound care for ischemic ulcers.

A 2024 Burns journal review found that adjunctive HBOT in deep partial-thickness burns reduced time to wound closure by an average of 4.8 days and reduced the need for skin grafting by 28% in matched cohorts.

The 2023 Cochrane Review on HBOT for late radiation tissue injury concluded that the evidence supports HBOT for osteoradionecrosis of the mandible and for soft tissue radionecrosis in head and neck and pelvic sites — both indications WBCA treats regularly.

These findings collectively reinforce that hospital-grade HBOT integrated into multidisciplinary wound and burn care produces measurable outcome improvements that home soft-shell HBOT cannot replicate.

FAQ: Wound and Burn Centers of America

Does Wound and Burn Centers of America accept insurance for HBOT?

Yes. WBCA accepts most major insurance plans for the 14 UHMS-approved HBOT indications, including Medicare, Medi-Cal, and commercial plans. Coverage requires a documented qualifying diagnosis (such as Wagner grade 3+ diabetic foot ulcer, osteoradionecrosis, or chronic refractory osteomyelitis) and pre-authorization for most commercial carriers. Off-label indications and wellness sessions are cash-pay only. Patients should call ahead to verify coverage for their specific plan and condition.

How long does an HBOT course at WBCA take?

Most HBOT courses run 20-40 sessions delivered Monday through Friday over 4-8 weeks. Each session is 90-120 minutes including pre- and post-treatment monitoring. The exact length depends on the indication: chronic diabetic foot ulcers often run 30-40 sessions, while acute conditions like decompression sickness or carbon monoxide poisoning may require only 1-3 sessions. Your clinician will reassess at sessions 10 and 20 and adjust the protocol based on response.

Is the HBOT at WBCA different from soft-shell home chambers?

Yes, substantially. WBCA uses hospital-grade monoplace hard-shell chambers that pressurize to 2.0-3.0 ATA with 100% medical oxygen. Soft-shell home chambers max out around 1.3-1.5 ATA with 90-95% oxygen delivered via mask. The pressure and oxygen differences produce dramatically different dissolved-plasma oxygen levels — the variable that drives most of HBOT's clinical effect. For wound healing, burn recovery, and the 14 approved medical indications, hospital-grade is the standard of care; soft-shell is not a substitute.

Can I get HBOT at WBCA without a referral?

Yes for cash-pay wellness sessions, generally yes for self-pay medical sessions, and depends-on-your-plan for insurance-covered sessions. Most commercial insurers and Medicare require a physician referral and pre-authorization documenting an approved indication. WBCA's intake team can help coordinate referrals if you have a primary care physician willing to send one. For aesthetic and wellness indications, no referral is typically required.

Is Wound and Burn Centers of America the same as Burn and Reconstructive Centers of America?

No. Wound and Burn Centers of America (WBCA) is an outpatient wound and burn specialty practice in Southern California with locations in West Hollywood and on Catalina Island. Burn and Reconstructive Centers of America (BRCA) is a separate organization that operates inpatient burn units inside partner hospitals across the Southeastern United States. Both treat burn patients but at different stages of care and in different geographic regions. If you're searching after a major acute burn, BRCA-affiliated burn units are the appropriate choice; for outpatient wound or burn care in Southern California, WBCA is the correct match.

Related Reading

• HBOT Insurance Coverage in 2026: 14 Approved Indications Decoded
• Mild HBOT vs Hospital-Grade HBOT: 2026 Treatment Decision Guide
• Soft-Shell HBOT Chambers Under $10,000 Compared: Real-World 2026 Buyer Guide

Bottom Line

Wound and Burn Centers of America is a credible, hospital-adjacent specialty practice that integrates HBOT into a multidisciplinary wound and burn care model. Its two Southern California locations — flagship in the Cedars-Sinai Medical Office Towers and satellite at Catalina Island Health — make it a regional rather than national option, despite the "of America" branding. For Southern California patients with chronic wounds, burns, radiation injury, or a UHMS-approved HBOT indication, WBCA offers the kind of structured, team-based care that produces meaningfully better outcomes than fragmented single-specialty wound clinics. For patients elsewhere, the WBCA model is worth using as a benchmark when evaluating local options: look for hospital affiliation, monoplace or multiplace hard-shell chambers, multidisciplinary specialist networks, and a published commitment to limb preservation. Those are the markers that separate competent wound and burn care from the rest.

-- The HBOT Finder Team