The Importance of Mobility
The SCOOTER Store understands that managed care organizations, when weighing the coverage of power mobility solutions, consider whether such coverage constitutes a good business decision. Clinical research provides evidence that power mobility solutions provide a range of important benefits for your members and your organization.
Lower cost of care
Power mobility products reduce or eliminate the need for home care assistance, reduce accidents and hospitalizations, improve members' general health and wellbeing and save an average of $3,100 per year, per patient in total medical costs.1
Risk avoidance
Mobility-impaired patients pose higher risk of complications from overexertion (e.g., stroke, heart failure) and more significantly, falling. Power mobility reduces the risk of fall-related injuries by 75%. Hip fractures can cost more than $20,000—and fully half of patients with such injuries cannot return to independent living environments, further compounding costs.2
Improved range, maneuverability and patient compliance compared to wheelchairs
A manual wheelchair goes as far as a person can wheel it—almost always much less than the range of a power wheelchair. Manual wheelchairs are also typically considerably less maneuverable, particularly in tight spaces like inside the home. Members who have power mobility equipment are more likely to use their equipment, resulting in fewer fall-related injuries, greater overall health and well-being and lower health costs.3
1Clifford L. Fry, Ph.D., Donald R. House, Ph.D., Kent D. Nash, Ph.D., "Powered Vehicles for the Mobility Impaired; The Net Benefits to Medicare", 2005, RRC, Inc., Bryan, TX.
2"Disability/Limitation." Centers for Disease Control National Center for Health Statistics. James Faucett. May 30, 2006. Centers for Disease Control. June 1, 2006. www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/disable.htm.
3Chaves, E.S., Boninger, M.L., Cooper, R., Fitzgerald, S.G., Gray, D., & Cooper, R.A. (2004). Assessing the influence of wheelchair technology on perception of participation in spinal cord injury. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (Model Systems Issue), 85(11), 1854-1858.
