Seat Lifts and Patient Lifts

Seat-lift mechanisms and patient lifts are covered as DME only when strict criteria are met: seat lifts require inability to stand from a regular armchair, severe hip/knee arthritis or severe neuromuscular disease, a prescriber’s goal to improve/arrest deterioration, and ability to ambulate once standing; patient lifts are covered when transfers between bed and chair/wheelchair/commode require more than one person and without a lift the member would be bed-confined; replacement slings for lifts and multi-positional transfer systems for supine transfers (when manual-transfer criteria also met) are allowed. They are otherwise considered experimental/investigational, spring-release “catapult” lifts are excluded, coverage is limited to the lift mechanism (not chair components), and bathroom/toilet lifts are non-covered convenience items under Aetna HMO (Medicare rules) while Aetna Traditional plans cover them only if the general patient-lift criteria are met.