Joining us on this episode of the Mobility Management podcast is Filipe Correia, Latin America and Europe Business Development Manager of Stealth Products.

Filipe lives in Portugal, and shares with us what the mobility landscape looks like in Europe compared to North America, with lessons that American care providers can learn from their European counterparts. He discusses how U.S. clinicians might benefit from European strategies around muscle support, and the similarities and differences in reimbursement challenges from the U.S. to Europe.

Power wheelchair drive-wheel configuration impacts the power chair rider’s overall experience, from ease of maneuverability in tighter spaces to the ability to access a range of indoor and outdoor environments. John Domanick, Merits USA’s vice president of sales, discusses the importance of drive-wheel configuration in meeting clients’ goals, and also provides updates on Merits USA’s recent projects, including the launches of the manufacturer’s front-wheel-drive AXCEL and AXCEL Narrow power chairs, designed to benefit both clients and CRT providers/service technicians.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

How do you define a successful ultralightweight wheelchair? How do rolling resistance, rolling dynamics, center of mass, weight distribution, etc., impact that wheelchair’s efficiency and function? In this second podcast sponsored by RGK, Josh Anderson and Jim Black — both longtime ultralightweight wheelchair riders — and Sarah Leonard, PT, DPT, ATP, discuss the manufacturer’s made-to-measure custom-building process, why individualized configurations are crucial, and the many benefits of optimizing these “wheeled prosthetics.”

So many factors impact ride quality for people who propel their own wheelchairs. Can truly building that wheelchair around its rider — a process that manufacturer RGK refers to as “made to measure” — make a difference in the overall rider experience? RGK’s Josh Anderson, Jim Black, and Sarah Leonard, PT, DPT, ATP, explain the significance of made-to-measure’s precise calculations, how made to measure differs from custom configuration, and what a better ride can ultimately mean to people who use ultralightweight wheelchairs.