The Medical Assistance program helps pay for medical supplies and equipment, eyeglasses, hearing aids, prosthetics and orthotics, and augmentative and alternative communication systems. Medical equipment includes both durable and non-durable medical equipment and supplies.
Durable medical equipment is a device that:
- can be used repeatedly
- is generally not useful if you don’t have an illness, injury, or disability and
- corrects or accommodates a physiological disorder or physical condition, or is used primarily for a medical purpose
Examples of durable medical equipment are:
- Mobility devices. This includes:
- Canes
- Walkers
- Wheelchairs
Wheelchairs may be for use in your home or in a nursing home. In some cases, Medical Assistance will pay for a power wheelchair AND a manual wheelchair when they are needed for different purposes. Custom designed wheelchairs are covered when medically necessary.
- Dressing and bathing aids. This includes:
- shower chairs
- bath lifts
- personal care aids
- environmental control units
- Standing equipment, equipment needed to help you stand upright. This includes:
- stationary and mobile standing frames
- standing wheelchairs
- Adaptive car seats for children with disabilities, including behavioral disorders.
- Communication devices. This includes:
- accessories (like a mount or carrying case)
- computer tablets, like an iPad, if it is used as a communication device
Non-durable medical equipment means a supply or piece of equipment that is used to treat a health condition. Non-durable equipment can’t be reused. This is things like: enteral supplies, thickening agents, gloves, and incontinence products.
Prosthetic and orthotic devices replace missing body parts or body parts that do not function properly, or prevent, correct, or support a deformed or weak body part.
AT services: Medical Assistance also pays for services related to picking out, getting, or using an AT device. Services may include an evaluation or therapy to learn how to use a device. For example: speech therapy to learn how to use a communication device or occupational therapy to learn how to drive a wheelchair.