Banking on the Status Quo

The seating and positioning market is … pick one: growing, slowing, both, neither. Perhaps more than any other market in the durable medical equipment industry, the prognosis for the health of the seating and positioning market most closely mirrors that for the entire industry.

On one hand, growth factors for DME and seating and positioning are in plain view. The population of potential end users is booming, manufacturers are introducing better and more cost-effective products and the federal government has authorized several long-awaited improvements, including new, more specific HCPCS codes for many seating and positioning products.

“The marketplace for all DME products is growing tremendously,” says Steve Schlegel, product manager for seating and positioning for Invacare. “Looking at the exceptionally large population of people getting older and coupling it with the fact that people are living longer, growth is inevitable. With that said, as people continue to need mobility bases, whether powered or manual, they will need the appropriate seating and positioning products.”

On the other hand, both the industry and the market have experienced a slowdown due to Medicare and Medicaid budget cuts, as well as intense scrutiny on everything DME-related resulting from a government crackdown on reimbursement fraud and abuse.

“The market is in a constant state of flux,” says Jennifer Saville, brand associate for Varilite, a division of Cascade Designs. “Factors contributing to growth include the introduction of new products and subsequent reimbursement codes, as well as the ever-growing size of industry trade shows, while factors contributing to the slowing of the market include reimbursement abuse and misuse, and growing restrictions associated with third-party-payer sources.”

“The recent [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] scrutiny on the provision of power wheelchairs does have a trickle-down effect on all wheelchair-related categories, so this has been a factor that has somewhat limited the market growth rates for seating products,” says Tom Borcherding, senior vice president, global medical sales for The Roho Group.