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Power Assist from a Proactive Perspective

Power assist is often discussed hand in hand with shoulder injury or shoulder pain. What if the discussion was different? What if power assist was considered a proactive part of manual mobility to enhance health and function? Curtis Merring recently spoke with Laurie Watanabe for a Mobility Management podcast on SmartDrive. In the podcast Curtis changes the conversation about power assist and explains that SmartDrive is simply an extension of manual mobility. It can give the wheelchair user the means to do more of what they love without compromise, and only use it when they need it. Check out this podcast to hear more about SmartDrive as a proactive choice to power your push!

Wheelchair Prescriptions with Short Rehab Stays

Getting the appropriate wheelchair when patients are discharged so early is a common challenge these days with rehab stays getting shorter and shorter. The average inpatient rehab stays are now 7-10 days, with patients going home to receive Home Health services. Considering that an ultra-lightweight manual wheelchair can take weeks or months to get due to the process that is required, how can you ensure that your patients get the appropriate wheelchair?
First, when you do your initial evaluation be thinking about whether your client may need a wheelchair when going home. If the answer is yes, treat your evaluation as if they are going to need a K0005 wheelchair, even if they initially go home in a lower end manual wheelchair for a short period of time. K0005 documentation should be more than sufficient to cover a lower coded chair so there is no real duplication of process.

Important Facts

Applications for ActiveReach™ & ActiveHeight™

ActiveHeight™ and ActiveReach™ is the dynamic combination of power seat elevation and anterior tilt function now available to power wheelchair users who rely on power seat functions to improve their health, function and participation in everyday life. The combination of ActiveHeight™ and ActiveReach™ allows the wheelchair user to perform tasks in a more ergonomically correct way, similar to how a non-wheelchair user would do. For example: