The California Assembly Committee on Health requested that the California Health Benefits Review Program (CHBRP)1 conduct an evidence-based assessment of California Assembly Bill (AB) 1157. 

AB 1157 would require coverage of rehabilitative and habilitative services to include durable medical equipment (DME), services, and repairs. DME prescriptions and orders would be required to include fittings, design, adjustment, programming, and other necessary services for the provision or maintenance of the devices. The bill would also prohibit coverage of DME from being subject to financial or treatment limitations, including annual caps or requirements limiting coverage of the devices to those for home use. 

Under AB 1157, DME is defined as “devices, including replacement devices, that are designed for repeated use and that are used for the treatment or monitoring of a medical condition or injury in order to help a person to partially or fully acquire, improve, keep, or learn, or minimize the loss of, skills and functioning of daily living.”