With an aging population opting for home care over hospital and nursing home care, the demand for lifts and transfer devices will continue to rise, experts say.

“Pure demographics say we'll see the home care lift segment grow,” says Fran Spidare, product manager for patient transport for Invacare.

Further, this category gives HME providers the opportunity to expand cash business with products such as stairlifts, bath lifts and non-reimbursible patient lifts that can make the lives of patients — and their caregivers — easier.

Safe Handling

Greater awareness about preventing caregiver injuries is one major factor driving expansion of the lift and transfer device market, according to manufacturers.

As aging adults are living at home longer, the number of informal caregivers who help to take care of them also is rising. About 52 million people in America provide care at home for an adult who is disabled or chronically ill, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study on informal caregiving. Another HHS study on family caregiving indicates that many informal caregivers are seniors themselves: 30 percent are age 65 or older.

The uptick in informal caregiving also increases the likelihood of injury to the caregiver, with lifting and moving patients being one of the main causes of injury.

A study of informal caregivers by St. James's University Hospital, Leeds, UK, found that out of 46 caregivers, 31 injured themselves while lifting and handling patients at home. Eight were temporarily unable to care for the patient as a result of their injuries, and 16 patients were injured themselves while being moved by their caregivers.

While institutions have been taking greater precautions to prevent lifting injuries among nursing staff, it has been more difficult to get the word out to family caregivers, manufacturers say. But as education increases, many are realizing that it is not safe — for themselves or the person they're caring for — to try to lift a patient on their own.

“No caregiver should try to move a resident because they can injure their backs. It doesn't matter if you're 45 or 65 — you're going to want to use a lift,” says Tom Ellis, vice president, extended care group, Drive Medical.

“There's a greater awareness for caregiver safety, and that's creeping into the home environment,” Spidare says. “People are beginning to understand that repetitive lifting takes a traumatic toll on the person doing the lifting, and from a patient's perspective, it's much safer for a patient to be moved in a lifting device.”

Options Abound

While basic hydraulic lifts are among the category's biggest sellers because they are the most affordable, Ellis says battery-powered lifts are gaining in popularity because they are easier to use.

Many payers won't reimburse a battery-powered lift, but some customers — especially elderly caregivers — are willing to pay the difference because they don't require someone to physically pump a hydraulic lift, he says.

Stand-up lifts are not always fully reimbursable either, but they, too, have been picking up momentum within the past few years, Spidare says.

For patients who are able to bear some weight, standing up while being transfered gives them circulatory and respiratory benefits that they don't get from a full-body lift, she says. It also gives the patient the psychological benefit of standing.

“You're not being fully dependent but you're participating [in your care],” Spidare explains.

The lift also benefits the caregiver because it's much easier to toilet someone with a standing lift, she says. With full-body lifts, toileting can be more complicated because the patient needs to be positioned in just the right place, and the sling opening needs to be placed over the toilet in just the right spot, she notes.

However, the full-body lift is still more appealing for many customers because it offers more flexibility for those who may have a deteriorating condition, Spidare says. “People are looking ahead,” she says. “[They are asking,] ‘Will I still be able to use this piece of equipment down the road?’”

Ceiling lifts are another segment of the market showing growth. One of the main appeals is that these lifts don't take up space in the room, Spidare says. And while most lifts can be difficult to move over carpeting, ceiling lifts can be used no matter what surface is in the room.

As for the slings that are used with any of the lifts, one-size-fits-all won't cut it anymore, manufacturers point out. A variety of sling types in all sizes are available now, which is both a “blessing and a curse,” Spidare says.

“For the patient, it's great to have the size that's appropriate to you,” she says. “But for the provider, it's difficult because they're going to be challenged with stocking and having that particular- sized sling.”

Design Details

With products that are more retail-based, such as stairlifts, aesthetics are becoming increasingly important.

For example, Bruno Independent Living Aids offers seven different fabrics so the customer can match the lift seat with their home decor. The unit also is designed so it doesn't look like “a chair sitting on a box,” says Mike Krawczyk, marketing manager.

“By making the product attractive so it really compliments the home, it takes away the stigma people may feel [by having a stairlift],” he adds. “When they have friends and family over, the stairlift is not an eyesore, it's an attractive element.”

Some manufacturers also are making stairlifts with seats that fold up so they don't impair the use of the stairs by other people, says Bill Filer, director of sales and marketing for Summit Lifts.

Aside from design, many consumers desire a lift that's not complicated to use, he explains. The more bells and whistles that are added to the lift, the more expensive — and out-of-reach to the average consumer — it gets.

With stairlifts costing from a few thousand dollars to more than $10,000, keeping the price down is key, manufacturers say. A number of new entrants have come onto the market recently, so competition and manufacturing techniques have helped lower the price in recent years, Filer says.

“What [consumers are] looking for is something that's going to get them up and down the stairs in an efficient manner but offered at a reasonable price,” he says.