Alternative Communication

Medicare Coverage of Speech Generating Devices (SGD)

• Medicare will cover the cost of a SGD if you have Medicare Part B services.
  1. You must live in your family home or an assisted living facility
  2. Medicare will not cover the cost of a SGD if you are in a hospital, skilled nursing facility, or on hospice.
• Medicare will cover 80% of the allowable cost of the device. Secondary insurance should pay the remaining 20% but that is not always the case. If you do not have secondary insurance, you will be responsible for the 20% co-pay. There are funds available from charitable organizations that may help pay for any deductible or co-pay that insurance does not cover.
• Medicare classifies SGD's as "durable medical equipment" (DME) and will cover the device under this classification.
• An assessment by a speech-language pathologist is required to document that this device is needed to meet your daily functional communication needs. 80% of the cost of the assessment is covered by Medicare. The remaining charge can be billed to secondary insurance (if applicable) or will be billed to the client.
• A doctors prescription is required.
• Once the assessment has been completed, appropriate paperwork will be submitted to the vendor of the device. This process usually takes approximately one to two months.
• If the vendor feels all the paperwork is in order, they will ship the device directly to you.
• Training on your device can be provided by:
  • Vendor-many vendors offer training sessions at no cost.
  • Facility-the facility where you received your device can provide training. The cost of the training session is covered by Medicare.
  • Chapter-the ALS Association may have resources available for training.