There are numerous advantages to standing upright with a standing frame or wheelchair, claims Teresa Tisdell, an occupational therapist ( OT ) at Integris Southwest Medical Center’s MDA center in Oklahoma City. A number of medical advantages for those who are inactive due to neuromuscular disease include enhanced circulation of blood, increased flexibility, stretching out of tight muscles and tendons, and also minimizing stress on body organs.

Standing up wheelchairs provide a whole new standard of self-reliance and enable you to adjust your position during the course of the day.

To assist you through the procedure of financing your standing machine, Tisdell advises making use of your MDA clinic staff, which consists of your physical therapist ( PT ) or OT along with an assistive technology supplier ( ATS ) or rehab technology supplier ( RTS ).

Financing a Standing Wheelchair

Every situation provides its own financing problems, regardless of whether you’re covered by Medicaid, Medicare or private insurance. The end result relies in part on your medical requirements as well as the inventiveness of your MDA clinic group.

It will help to get a number of specialists expressing your requirement for a standing chair. Don’t quit, be relentless and try to come up with ways to make it succeed.

Quest subscribers who depend on public insurance for their health care requirements will discover that, in several states, Medicaid has covered a number of varieties of standing structures and standing upright wheelchairs. However, the route to obtaining the insurance coverage you desire can be lengthy and twisted.

Electrical power standing wheelchairs are costly and can range from $18,000 to $30,000.

A Creative Option

The initial step to obtaining the necessary funding is having the MDA clinic staff review the client’s case with his Medicaid case manager, conveying the urgent need for an electrical power chair along with the significance of a standing wheelchair for both medical and practical purposes.

The next step was to talk with the durable medical equipment ( DME ) supplier.

After it was determined which type of standing wheelchair could perform best for their client’s needs, the MDA clinic group asked the product’s maker, Frank Mobility Systems, if the client can buy a trial wheelchair at a discounted price.

The catalog price of the LifeStand was initially $26,829. Between the LifeStand demo in addition to the DME supplier reductions, the cost was cut down to $12,673.

The cost to upgrade to a standing up chair is $7,648. That’s when MDA can enter with its own $2,000 toward the purchase of a wheelchair or leg braces. ( MDA allocates this sum every 5 years for an adult or every 3 years for children 18 or under. )