Page 18 - Mobility Management, April 2019

ATP Series
OF ALL THE COMPLEX REHAB HCPCS CODES, E1161 — Manual adult size wheelchair, includes tilt in space — is usually not the most exciting. E1161 chairs aren’t raced by Paralympians. They aren’t made of titanium and carbon fiber, and they don’t boast state-of-the-art electronics and Bluetooth compatibility.
For a diverse patient population, however, E1161 wheelchairs provide positioning support and improve sitting tolerance so users can more independently perform mobility-related activities of daily living (MRADLs). When family members need to help, E1161 chairs can make caregiving tasks much easier and safer for everyone. And the tilt ranges in some E1161 chairs can perform weight shifting for pressure relief.
The E1161 code comprises a range of wheelchairs with a range of capabilities, which results in a user popula- tion that’s extremely diverse... and makes this code and its justification quite complicated.
The E1161 User Demographic
The E1161 code is so complex that basic questions about typical users get complicated in a hurry.
Think about a “typical” user of a K0005 ultralightweight, self-propelled manual wheelchair, and you’ll likely
think of spinal cord injuries, paraplegia or lower-level quadriplegia, relatively good upper-body and upper-ex- tremity strength and function. But who is the “typical” user of an E1161 wheelchair?
Michael Owen, Product Specialist for Freedom Designs and Invacare Corp., said, “Any clinical situation where
16 APRIL2019|MOBILITYMANAGEMENT MobilityMgmt.com
THE COMPLEXITY
OF E1161
THE MANUAL ADULT
TILT WHEELCHAIR
CODE SEEMS SIMPLE.
IT’S ANYTHING BUT
By Laurie Watanabe
DIAGONAL LINES: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM/ LAY LONDON