It's All About Functionality: Choosing the Right Home-Care Bed
Often designed with an eye for aesthetics, home-care beds are all about functionality. Their job is to make ill or recovering patients being cared for at home comfortable, boost their chances for good medical outcomes, reduce the probability of or treat pressure ulcers and make caregiving easier.
While there's no complexity to the big, dramatic beds we'd all like in our center-city lofts overlooking dramatic urban skylines, home-care beds are another matter. Their design, the materials used in their fabrication, and their functionality -- the things they do, from raising and lowering patients to enabling frequent positioning changes -- vary widely. Here's a primer to help your clients choose the best bed.
Medical condition: Patients who use wheelchairs or who are at risk for falls may benefit from a low bed, or at least one that can be lowered. Paraplegics and others with extremely limited mobility will probably want a hospital bed rather than one designed for home use. Bariatric patients weighing more than 450 pounds should choose a bed specifically designed for adequate and safe support. Standard home-care beds don't adequately support bariatric clients. Patients more than 600 lbs. are in bed most of time and require specialized beds' therapeutic benefits of pressure reduction and improved respiratory function.
Mattress: Consider a medical-grade foam or air mattress for an existing bed. On the other hand, patients who stay in bed most of the time not only need a home-care bed, but also an alternating pressure system to avoid pressure ulcers. Help your clients understand the dangers of pressure ulcers and explain why the mattress device necessary to prevent them can cost as much as the bed.
Caregivers' needs: Good home-care outcomes require that caregivers have the tools to deliver excellent care day in and day out. A bed that rises to a comfortable working height will reduce strain and help prevent injuries. A control panel puts all the bed in one convenient spot for your caregiver. Your clients will choose between manual and semi-or fully electric controls. Manual controls cost less, but caregivers will have more difficulty positioning patients. Many clients choose fully automatic controls to make it as easy as possible for caregivers to do what is best for patients. It's essential that bariatric beds be electrically adjusted as family members won't be able to activate the bed while the patient is in it.
Space: This usually isn't a problem with home-care beds that arrive unassembled. Refurbished hospital beds can pose a problem, though. Not only should clients be sure the bed's dimensions will make it around corners and through doors, but that there will be enough space in the room where the bed will actually reside.
Cost: Good home-care beds can be expensive, although Medicare can defray the cost. Help your clients understand current Medicare rules regarding their qualification to purchase a home-care bed, whether they may have to rent a bed for a period of time before purchasing one, and how long it may take for Medicare to make reimbursement. Explain the relationship of cost and quality. Although beds are available for as little as $500, the average home-care bed runs about $1,000 and a refurbished hospital bed at least $2,500. Tempting though they may be, short-term savings may lead to long-term regrets when it comes to something a patient will use almost continuously and that contributes directly to their wellbeing.
Educate clients about bed shopping: Help your client appreciate the value you bring to their purchase. Provide evidence of your expertise and experience in providing patients with home-care beds, such as how long you've been a supplier, your accreditation and any other certification or specialized training you or your staff have. Warn clients to be cautious of online vendors who can enter the business with minimal investment and less competence. Give each client a written quote, and urge them to request and carefully read the quotes they get from other providers. Point out that your quote fully discloses all the costs associated with purchasing a home-care bed, including shipping and installation. Ensure that they know you expect them to ask plenty of questions and that you will provide the most technically accurate and objective responses possible. Don't press clients for a purchase decision, and encourage them to beware if they encounter aggressive sales tactics from other DMEs.
This article originally appeared in the September 2007 issue of HME Business.