Does Medicare cover Lift Chairs?
A. Only the seat lift mechanism on a lift chair could be considered medically necessary if all of the following coverage criteria are met: • The patient must have severe arthritis of the hip or knee or have a severe neuromuscular disease. • The seat lift mechanism must be a part of the physicians course of treatment and be prescribed to effect improvement, or arrest or retard deterioration in the patients condition. • The patient must be completely incapable of standing up from a regular armchair or any chair in their home. (The fact that a patient has difficulty or is even incapable of getting up from a chair, particularly a low chair, is not sufficient justification for a seat lift mechanism. Almost all patients who are capable of ambulating can get out of an ordinary chair if the seat height is appropriate and the chair has arms.) • Once standing, the patient must have the ability to ambulate (walk). Coverage of seat lift mechanisms is limited to those types which operate smoothly,
