Frequently Asked Questions
Is this equipment covered by Medicare?
Mostly no. Unfortunately medicare only pays for services that are deemed to be medically necessary based on specific diagnoses. Since grab bars and other home modifications can be useful to all people (regardless of a diagnosis), Medicare will not cover these expenses.
There is a process for getting durable medical equipment (DME) covered. This includes hospital beds, wheelchairs, walkers, oxygen and patient lifts. Download our resource guide for step by step instructions on how to do that here.
If you'd like more detailed information check out this detailed blog post from the occupational therapists at Toilet Talk!
What about private insurance. Will they cover it?
Every plan is different so its always worth asking. However, most insurance plans have similar rules to Medicare and therefore do not cover adaptive equipment
Do you rent equipment?
No, but we do have partners regionally that rent equipment and we are adding to that list frequently. Message us and we may have a location to connect you with in your area!
How do I get it installed?
We've intentionally chosen the products on our site because they are user friendly and easy to install. If you have anyone in your life that can handle a screwdriver and is able bodied to get in the right space they can probably do it. But if you need to hire someone Find a Contractor through our partnership with VGM Live at Home.
Why are there just a few options in each category?
We've been intentional about curating which brands and styles of products are offered at AskSAMIE to things that meet the following:
- User-friendly
- Easy to install
- We've seen it in action
This is part of why we can recommend it highly as occupational therapy professionals; because we've recommended them to our own clients in our past work in settings like home health, acute care hospitals and rehab clinics and we know it works well.
How do I know it's the right thing for our needs?
Going through the questions uses our occupational therapist designed algorithm to narrow it down to the right group of products to meet the need you've described. Then read the product descriptions and specifications to make your final choice from the options we've given. If you follow those steps we are confident that you'll get something that will solve the problem!
But if you'd rather have our expert eyes help you decide we are happy to! Just connect with one of the occupational therapists in our network and they'll get you squared away!
What is an occupational therapist?
Occupational therapy professionals, which includes occupational therapists (OTs) and OT Assistants, are specialists at understanding how a diagnosis or a change in level of ability impact your daily habits. And because we are expert in that, we also are able to create solutions to accomodate or rehabilitate so can still do your everyday things - even if in a slightly different way. For a really great overview watch this 1 minute video from our friends at OT Potential.