(Kiosk 1) Empowering Patients with Durable Medical Equipment at End of Life: A Case Series

Case Diagnosis: Nine patients at end of life with advanced cancer were included in this case series, all of whom required either tilt-in-space (TIS) or power wheelchair (PWC) per therapy recommendations, and all of whom were able to obtain these devices through donation or vender loaner programs.

Case Description or Program Description: This case series explores how patients obtained donated and/or loaner DME to ensure they met their mobility and caregiver goals, despite not being funded by insurance. This poster will provide a roadmap and encourage other physicians to lean into the relationships with local vendors and charitable organizations to ensure patients can get home with the best DME options despite their prognosis.

Setting: inpatient rehabilitation hospital

Assessment/Results: The case series explores diagnosis, prognosis, functional mobility, caregiver support, insurance funding, and DME accessibility from local vendors as well as charitable organizations.

Discussion (relevance): There are several reasons why insurance companies deny durable medical equipment, including: insurance opinion of appropriateness, DME cost, expected length of need, and planned disposition. These factors are complicated by patients at end of life because the expected length of need is dependent on accurate prognosis, and some patients will go home with hospice or even to skilled nursing facilities. Each disposition has their own hurdles to obtain certain DME. Regardless, the rehabilitation team ought to recommend the most appropriate DME for optimizing patient mobility, improving quality of life, and reducing caregiver burden before limiting patients to only what will be provided by insurance. This case series explores how patients obtained donated and/or loaner DME to ensure they met their mobility and caregiver goals. The presentation will provide a roadmap and encourage other physicians to lean into the relationships with local vendors and charitable organizations to ensure patients can get the best DME options despite their prognosis.

Conclusions: The rehabilitation team ought to recommend the most appropriate DME for optimizing patient mobility, improving quality of life, and reducing caregiver burden regardless of patient prognosis or disposition. This case series explores how patients obtained donated and/or loaner DME to ensure they met their mobility and caregiver goals despite insurance denying certain DME items.