Covered By Medicare if prescribed by a physician for patients with severe arthritis of the hip or knee, muscular dystrophy or some other neuromuscular disease and use of the device benefits the patient therapeutically.

Coverage is limited to the seat lift mechanism only. Coverage is limited to seat lifts that operate smoothly, can be controlled by the patient, and can help the patient stand and sit without other assistance.

Coverage will not be provided for seat lifts that operate using a spring-release mechanism with a sudden, catapult-like motion that jolts the patient from a seated to a standing position. Also, if the seat lift uses a recliner feature, this feature will not be covered.

To establish medical necessity, evidence must show that:

• 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 physician's course of treatment and be prescribed to effect improvement or arrest or retard deterioration in the patient's condition, after improvement.
• 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 getting up from a chair, particularly a low chair, is not sufficient justification for a seat lift mechanism.)
• Once standing, the patient must have the ability to ambulate.
• All appropriate therapeutic modalities to enable the patient to transfer from a chair to a standing position (e.g., medication, physical therapy) must have been tried and failed.

A physician's prescription must be furnished to the supplier prior to delivery (WOPD).