Playing by the Rules

Although manufacturers acknowledge the power wheelchair market may be flat at present, they say this is not cause for alarm. The attitude stems, in part, from confidence that the market will begin to grow again within the next 12 months, as unsettled coding issues are expected to be resolved.

More important, however, manufacturers predict that, even in a slow market, providers who follow the rules and who quickly adjust to a new system of documentation for power wheelchair claims will be just fine.

“The market will start building again,” states DuWayne Kramer, president of Kansas City, Kan.-based Leisure-Lift. “Right now, there is a lot of confusion among dealers about codes — they are scared because they don't know what to do. But people who are [documenting the products] right and sending their information are getting paid. They simply have to follow the rules.”

If nothing else, the basic need for power wheelchairs continues to grow as the nation's aging population expands — in more ways than one: Not only is the population getting older, more people are becoming obese and experiencing the sometimes debilitating side effects of the condition. Leisure-Lift's Kramer says the bariatric power mobility market is, well, constantly growing.

“People who need power mobility products will get them,” Kramer says. “The market won't be … like it used to be, but providers will still make money.”

First, the Bad News

Industry experts agree unanimously that, at least for now, the power wheelchair market is on hold. The present market is in “a holding pattern,” says Mark Sullivan, vice president and category manager, rehab, for Elyria, Ohio-based Invacare.

“We are waiting for new codes, and we still don't have a fee schedule,” he says, adding that although CMS' final rule for power mobility products goes into effect June 5, the exact criteria for claims documentation and supplier standards is “still muddy.

“Until there is clarity in these areas … there's still too much conjecture,” Sullivan says.

Other manufacturers agree. Pieter Leenhouts, vice president of standard products for Longmont, Colo.-based Sunrise Medical, says the uncertainty and resultant price pressure has made the market “relatively stagnant, and probably declining.

“There are a lot of question marks about what's really going to happen, what CMS is doing with coding, who should get what kinds of products,” Leenhouts says.