Tracheostomy-related durable medical equipment: Insurance coverage, gaps, and barriers.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Tracheostomy care is supply- and resource-intensive, and airway-related adverse events in community settings have high rates of readmission and mortality. Devices are often implicated in harm, but little is known about insurance coverage, gaps, and barriers to obtaining tracheostomy-related medically necessary durable medical equipment. We aimed to identify barriers patients may encounter in procuring tracheostomy-related durable medical equipment through insurance plan coverage.

Materials and methods

Tracheostomy-related durable medical equipment provisions were evaluated across insurers, extracting data via structured telephone interviews and web-based searches. Each insurance company was contacted four times and queried iteratively regarding the range of coverage

SUBMITTER: Foran PL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10939813 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar-Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature