Mobility Management Podcast Laurie Watanabe
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- Technology
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The complex rehab technology (CRT) industry includes seating and mobility clinicians and providers, funding and policy specialists, rehab engineers, manufacturers and, of course, consumers and their families. Join Editor Laurie Watanabe as these stakeholders share their insights, predictions and hopes for CRT. Whether you design, manufacture, recommend, build, fit, service or fund seating and mobility, our podcasts offer personal perspectives from CRT’s front lines.
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CRT Repair: Resolution, Reform & the Heart of the Matter
Burdened by overly complicated documentation requirements, inadequate funding, and unwieldy operations, Complex Rehab Technology (CRT) repair has always been an arduous challenge. Then the COVID pandemic’s supply chain delays and labor shortages broke an already struggling system. At the heart of the repair issue remain the wheelchair riders whose mobility is at stake. Diane Racicot (VP of Payer Relations at National Seating & Mobility) and Wayne Grau (Executive Director of NCART) discuss the frustrations felt by stakeholders, as well as what repair resolution will require.
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The Seating Benefits of a “Custom Sooner” Mindset
Historically, custom seating has been considered something of a last resort for wheelchair riders who cannot be accommodated any other way. Now that new technology has greatly reduced the timeline for its creation and delivery, should custom seating be considered sooner in the assessment process? Ride Designs’ Tom Hetzel discusses how to determine when off-the-shelf seating systems are — and are not — the optimal choice.
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People-Centric: How Digital Enablement Can Support Better CRT Outcomes
Digital enablement sounds impressive — but what does it really mean? And can it work in a people-centric industry such as Complex Rehab Technology (CRT), where relationships and communication are everything? Numotion’s Bret Barczak (Chief Marketing Officer & Executive Vice President, Retail Division) and Elizabeth Floegel (Chief Information & Digital Officer) discuss the many efficiencies that digitization can offer today’s CRT provider… and why people will always be key to successful CRT outcomes.
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Mindful Design: Power Wheelchair Priorities & Perspectives
Complex Rehab Technology manufacturers design power wheelchairs for a wide range of stakeholders. Consumers, caregivers, clinicians, providers, and technicians all have their own priorities, while payers want to get the most function while paying the lowest possible cost. Bret Tracy, ATP, and Josh Haynes from Merits Health Products discuss how they balance those priorities — not to mention Medicare funding based on in-the-home usage — and what questions suppliers should consider when choosing which power chairs to provide.
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In Support of Upper-Extremity Positioning
While wheelchair seating often prioritizes the positioning of the client’s pelvis, supporting upper extremities is also crucial to efficient functioning and mobility-related activities of daily living. In this episode, Tina Roesler, PT, MS, the Director of Clinical and Business Development for Bodypoint, explains how to identify sub-optimal upper-extremity positioning among people using wheelchairs, and shares a new approach to dynamic upper-extremity positioning.
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NCART Update: After Seat Elevation, What's Next?
A landmark proposed decision on Medicare funding for seat elevation should be very encouraging to Complex Rehab Technology (CRT) stakeholders, but several other CRT issues are also demanding attention. In this first podcast of the year with NCART Executive Director Wayne Grau and Associate Director Mickae Lee, Mobility Management Editor Laurie Watanabe asks about power standing (the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has not yet responded to the industry’s request for Medicare coverage consideration), the expansion of right-to-repair laws, and what else the industry can expect for 2023.