New Study Says Power Chairs Mean Medicare Savings

BRYAN, Texas–Additional research by an economics consulting
firm indicates that provision of power wheelchairs or scooters to
disabled patients could save Medicare billions in the long run.

New data analysis by RRC Inc. suggests that savings could be as
high as $8,760 per beneficiary over a three-year period–65 percent
higher than the company found in a previous study, which indicated
an average savings of $5,300 per patient.

“We determined the savings for those receiving power vehicles
were due to lower Medicare expenditures for inpatient
hospitalization, home health care, skilled nursing facilities and
carrier costs,” said Dr. Donald House, an economist who took part
in conducting the study. “These are the same types of expenditures
in which savings were identified in our first study.”

In late 2003, the firm completed a year-long study funded by The
Scooter Store on the effect of power vehicles on Medicare
expenditures for 1994 through 2001. Since that study was released,
RRC said it has independently conducted new research to test its
earlier results by using alternative statistical approaches to
identify the control group–those Medicare beneficiaries without
power vehicles but who are physically comparable to those who
received them.