Mobility

MIDDLETON, Wis. – RehabPulse, an online marketplace, is one step closer to becoming a one-stop shop for mobility products and more now that it can bill Medicare and insurance for DME products, says Gaurav Mishra, CEO and president.  The next step for the company is offering what he calls “home care site of service” through a network of contracted health care professionals, including PTs, ATPs and RTs.  “The reason why we developed the online marketplace and...

ARLINGTON, Va. – RESNA, for the first time, has its own track of 10 sessions at the upcoming International Seating Symposium.  “The purpose is to talk about the convergence of technologies,” said Andrea Van Hook, executive director of RESNA. “We know ATPs who are working in seating and mobility today need to know more than seating and mobility.”   ISS, organized and hosted by the University of Pittsburgh, is scheduled to take place Jan. 31-Feb. 2 at the...

WASHINGTON – Recent virtual meetings with legislators highlight the importance of leveraging the Functional Mobility Assessment tool to show the value of appropriate seating and mobility equipment, say U.S. Rehab’s Dan Fedor and Greg Packer.  During those meetings, which took place as part of the Virtual CRT Congressional Fly-in on Sept. 21, legislators asked for “proof” that power standing devices and other complex rehab equipment benefit...

ARLINGTON, Va. – RESNA has ramped up its efforts to address questions around the ATP certification and recertification processes, including hosting webinars. Andrea Van Hook, the executive director of RESNA, who hosted one such webinar in November, talked with HME News about the “health” of the ATP program in 2021 and more. HME News: Why did RESNA need to increase its education efforts around the ATP?  Andrea Van Hook: We literally...

WASHINGTON – Complex rehab stakeholders have added additional layers of pressure on CMS to improve access to power seat elevation and power standing systems.  Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Robert Casey, D-Pa., in October sent a letter to CMS asking the agency not just to take the next step but to amend the national coverage determination for mobility assistive equipment to include coverage of seat elevation and standing systems that are embedded in power...

WATERLOO, Iowa – VGM Live at Home has a number of new agreements lined up that will help to position the home accessibility market for “rapid growth” by the end of this year, says Jim Greatorex.  “The home accessibility market is at a turning point,” said Greatorex, vice president of VGM Live at Home. “There’s going to be real, rapid growth by the end of this year and into 2022, where’s it’s going to be really noticeable.”  Here’s...

PITTSBURGH – Organizers have moved the International Seating Symposium from October to January, in large part, to make sure clinicians are free to help with COVID-19 patients who are in recovery, says Mark Schmeler.  “We are all, as clinicians, busy taking care of people,” said Schmeler, an associate professor in the Rehabilitation Science and Technology Department at the University of Pittsburgh, which is organizing the event. “You see on the news that ICU beds are...

NEW YORK – It wasn’t until Chris Pangilinan was in college at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and started using a wheelchair instead of crutches that he saw his interests in public transportation, which he was studying, and disabilities collide. Pangilinan, who has cerebral palsy and who is now the head of global policy, public transportation at Uber, recently joined the board of the United Spinal Association. He talked with HME News about advancements in wheelchair-accessible...

WASHINGTON – The Virtual CRT Congressional Fly-in on Sept. 21 drew 184 attendees and resulted in nearly 230 visits with members of Congress, according to organizers NCART and NRRTS.  This year’s virtual format offered a number of benefits, they say, including the ability to “show” members of Congress and their staff complex rehab equipment, says Weesie Walker, executive director of NRRTS.  “In my group from Georgia, we had a therapist from the Clinician...

WASHINGTON – About 95 organizations participated in National CRT Awareness Week, which was held the week of Sept. 20 in concert with the Virtual CRT Congressional Fly-in, says Mickae Lee.  Last year, the event drew about 60 organizations.  “It’s really exciting to see that growth,” said Lee, the associate director of NCART, which organized the event with NRRTS. “We weren’t really sure about having the fly-in as part of CRT Awareness Week, but there...