Group 2 pc question

[Art Springs]

I have my final evaluation coming up in 2 weeks and am worried they may insist on sticking me in a group 2 chair rather than the quickie 636 i am hoping for.

Because I have the tendency to want to know as much as possible before the case (especially as I suspect if they decide that I am stuck in group 2 I will have to make a decision then and there) I am hoping that you guys can make some recommendations as to what will be the least of all evils in this class of power chairs. I have my first Joint replacement surgery tentatively scheduled in June (provided I have my chair first) and desperately need a chair before then. The chair needs to be able to make it around to car for doctor appointments etc as there is absolutely no pavement from the end of the ramp till reach the road which is about the length of an American football field with hill gravel etc between.

Lord does not medicare realize that if a person needs a chair inside their house it should also be able to get them to the nearest vehicle for doctor appointments?

Does anyone know enough about medicare to know if there is any sort of appeals process on what type chair you are assigned under circumstances that if your home catches on fire you are going to be stuck there at foot of ramp with no way to get to safety much less a way to get to the Doctor?

Also I have tried to figure out this coding thing and cannot find anything that even gives a clue to the patient what is or is not qualifying conditions for what group chair.

Maybe I am panicking but I have a friend who was stuck in a Jazzy last year and he has not been able to get outside of his house for Doctor appointments etc without someone to help him make it from power chair to manual (no ramp at all) then to car and has suffered a ton of falls when trying to make it on his own. (I admit after all the falls I have had in past combined with fact that this reverse shoulder replacement surgery is a direct result of one of them I am terrified of more falls.

[ex-Gooserider]

Their technical / engineering knowledge sucks to put it mildly, but the folks over on Junky Wheelchair do have a pretty good handle on the Medicare categories and such....

Not sure what to recommend for a group 2 chair, but I would probably insist on RWD and large diameter wheels as a minimum...

ex-Gooserider

[Burgerman]

Not sure what "groups" are really, as we have no sush things in the UK. Presumably its about money. So a group 2 will likely be a "smaller batteried, slower, lower power (controller amps), lower geared with possibly weaker motors. And be physically smaller/cheaper/lighter/smaller casters. Trouble is smaller means less stable too.

Because a faster one (6 to 8 mph) needs proportionally taller gearing, "bigger" motors, bigger amp controller, and bigger group 24 batteries to feed it all. This costs more. Not much, but its all money. The smaller part comes from the fact that its also likely to be narrower and possibly shorter wheelbase too since the chair is built around its batteries which are its main limit on how small the chair can be made. To take advantage of the smallness, these chairs generally have smaller casters too. The main thing that will be bad on gravel/mud/uneven surfaces. And many are mid wheel drive, which in your scenario will probably get stuck on a regular basis. Non of which bodes brilliantly for off road style duties.

[Armand]

Maybe this will help? http://marketing.sunrisemedical.com/Fun ... andout.PDF

[ex-Gooserider]

I don't have a great understanding of what puts a chair into a given "group" but in short Medicare classifies chairs in "groups" depending on things like speed, seating style, number of extra functions like tilt / recline etc. and various other options... Physical size of the chair doesn't really come into it directly. Group 2 is the basic "granny chair" w/ no special functions, Group 3 has some added functions, but is still fairly basic, and Group 4 is the full blown rehab chair with all the bells and whistles...

I've seen a fair number of posts from Mark over on JWC that go into more details, but one of the key things is that most of the chairs are low speed due to the whole "in-the-home" thing that Medicare has....

ex-Gooserider

[Burgerman]

That will be why so many end up with the smaller, narrower, slower, lower powered, small battery pride quantum rehab edge chair then, rather than the 2 inch wider Q6000. Because its basically a cheaper, cut down version of this.



The q6000 is faster, has bigger amp controller/batteries, taller gearing etc. I wouldnt want either as they are both basically no use outdoors and a proper programmer is not available, hence all the posts and emails about steering. The cheapened slower one came out after some rule changes in the US I think. But its shows the differences between two different classes well. Nor sure which classes though! I think the faster one is now not in any class or one that isnt "free" to the user. Hence the "edge"... http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/quantum ... 6-edge.htm