Data-mining analysis of the provision of mobility devices in the United States with emphasis on complex rehab...

The objective of this study was to describe the provision of wheeled-mobility equipment from the perspective of a large equipment supplier in the United States. The records of clients who were prescribed a mobility device over a 6-month period were randomly sampled to product a dataset of 1,689 clients. Analysis was limited to descriptive statistics and measures of relationships. The majority of the clients were adults (72%) and female (58%) with 62% receiving a manual wheelchair. The majority of interventions (58%) included some contribution from the client or client's family. Overall, 86% of all prescribed wheelchairs were classified as complex rehab technology (CRT). About half (52%) of all interventions involved a therapist. Therapist involvement was 2.5 times more likely during CRT interventions compared to standard durable medical equipment (StdDME). The project provides a novel description of mobility-related equipment provision using a large retrospective dataset. The analysis demonstrates the utility of analyzing a large number of client interventions. The capabilities of such analyses have business, clinical, and policy implications. Combining the data available from suppliers with prospective collection of client-specific information, such as outcomes, would be a more powerful means to assess the provision of wheeled-mobility equipment.