Written by Mike Price, OT
As a significant source of injuries for both healthcare workers and family caregivers, trying to lift and transfer people without the use of proper lifting equipment can also inflict harm on the person being moved. Often due to the overexertion involved with the repetitive, heavy manual lifting inherent with transferring and repositioning patients, these injuries also come from working in extremely awkward postures.
With the growing number of older people requiring daily living assistance along with the obesity epidemic, it has never been more important to utilize safe patient-handling equipment in professional settings and at home. As a key component of an effective program to control the risk of injury to patients and caregivers with lifting, repositioning, transferring, and moving patients, patient lift equipment is beneficial for everyone involved.
Making our list at number five with its convenient portability is the Traxx Titan 500 Patient Lift System by Traxx Mobility Systems. Easy to install in minutes, the Titan is also quick and simple to take down and re-install in a new location. Its freestanding design makes it effortless to place exactly where it’s needed to ensure the best support.
Available in three different length options to suit specific space requirements, this ceiling lift system comes standard with everything you need for installation and operation, including a soft, padded sling in a choice of four different sizes. The lift’s single rocker button facilitates the movement of the lift bar in either direction. The only option you may want to add is the set of four smooth-rolling and lockable casters to make the lift even easier to move from one location to another.
Perfect for lifts and transfers to and from a bed, wheelchair, bedside commode, bathroom, sofa, or chair, its 4-point lift bar delivers more comfortable positioning for users up to 500 pounds. The handheld remote makes operation easy and is safe to use in wet environments, like the bathroom or kitchen. The batteries are easy to recharge, providing about 200 lifts for an average-weight user on just one charge, remaining operational even during times of power failure.
Coming in at number four on our list is the Molift Air 350 ceiling lift, a compact powerhouse that weighs just nineteen pounds but can lift up to 770 pounds! This versatile hoist offers flexible solutions for a range of scenarios, including sitting transfers and standing training situations. Designed with both patient and caregiver comfort in mind, it provides smooth and pleasant assistance.
With a smart and optimal design, this ceiling lift combines sleek style with low lifecycle costs and silent operation. Constructed using durable materials, it minimizes lifetime service costs, making it a wise long-term investment. Moreover, the Molift Air 350 features excellent caregiver-friendly designs that make it easy to use and accommodate various lifting situations. It prioritizes user-friendliness and patient comfort, ensuring a stable and accommodating ride during sitting and horizontal transfers, standing, and gait training.
It also offers one of the largest standard lifting intervals on the market, spanning 9.8 feet. Additionally, a quick-release device allows for easy connection or disconnection of the motor from the trolley. Beyond its patient and caregiver-centric features, the Molift Air stands out with its sleek design, available across different models. Optional upgrades, such as in-rail-charging (IRC) and propulsion, further enhance its capabilities. Two-, four-, and/or eight-point sling bars can also be added to meet specific needs.
With everything included for set-up and operation except the sling, the XY Gantry Track and Ceiling Lift Kit by GoLift takes the third position on our list with its revolutionary trolley configuration that enables quick installation of the lift into and out of the track. As one of Amico’s most popular safe patient handling devices, it also facilitates an instant electrical and mechanical connection to ensure operation whenever it's needed with its continuous charge strip located inside the track. The fixed, multi-track system is modular to enable flexible and customizable installation, while the lifting mechanism itself only weighs about 10 pounds, and is easy to attach and detach.
This innovative GoLift ceiling lift track system also highlights a convenient Quick Connect Carry Bar. Weighing just 5 pounds, the Carry Bar enables lightweight transport from one GoLift to another, connecting with just a single button and no tools. Its capacitive touch hand control is configured without any crevices, buttons, or grooves to help mitigate harmful microorganism growth, while its quick-connect hand control enables easy connection to the wall plate of booms, strap, or carry bar, decreasing the risk of the hand control falling.
Delivering both vertical and horizontal access for easier patient positioning in hospitals, long-term care facilities, rehab centers, and at home, the GoLift ceiling lift kits come in 400-pound, 700-pound, and 1,000-pound weight capacities to safely accommodate any patient handling need. Each kit comes with everything required for installation and operation except the sling. The GoLift fixed ceiling lifts are compatible with a wide range of GoLift slings to optimize patient comfort, offering multiple positioning options and specialized support.
Coming in at number two with its ability to swing between gantries and tracks, the Maxi Sky 440 Portable Ceiling Lift by ArjoHuntleigh provides unrivaled versatility, technology, and safety in a compact, economical design. While it includes everything you need to set it up and start using it except the sling, it boasts the lowest price point of any of the ceiling lifts in our review. Yet it never sacrifices quality and beneficial features for that affordability, making it a well-loved piece of equipment by both professionals and home users.
The Maxi Sky’s innovative Tarzan hook enables the lift cassette to swing between rooms with its convenient pass-through system, eliminating the need for door modifications or continuous tracks. The tracking it offers comes with both straight and curved sections to facilitate flexible modifications to meet your specific needs. The lift cassette weighs just 14 pounds and has an integrated carry handle for convenient, compact portability. Even the built-in two-point spreader bar folds down compactly against the cassette and is compatible with a wide range of slings to ensure comfortable positioning.
Its especially smooth operation features an electronic soft-start and soft-stop that won’t jerk or stall out, making transfers more secure and optimizing user comfort. An emergency pull cord is accessible from the ground to stop the lift, while a manual emergency lowering device can be used if the lift loses power. The Maxi Sky’s hand control is easy to use, while there are also electrical up and down buttons on the lift itself. This lift accommodates a 440-pound weight capacity to safely serve most users. Like other safe patient handling devices from Arjo, the Maxi Sky is often used in medical and care facilities to effectively reduce the occurrence of healthcare-acquired conditions for both patients and caregivers. You can learn more about this fascinating company here.
The Portable Ceiling Lifts - AP-Series by Handicare earns its position of number one in our review with its easy installation and operation. Healthcare staff, including nurses and orderlies, spend a significant amount of time organizing patient transfer logistics, leaving less time for direct patient care. Handicare's AP-Series Portable Ceiling Lift is designed to address these challenges and improve overall patient care by providing a safe and effective solution for transferring patients from their bed to a wheelchair or another room.
Concerns about safety and infection risks are effectively addressed with the AP-Series Portable Ceiling Lift. The anti-microbial strap surface is made of a durable material that inhibits the growth of microorganisms, significantly reducing the risk of cross-contamination between patients.
The AP-Series Portable Ceiling Lift is equipped with advanced safety features, including an emergency lowering and shut-off switch, which allows precise adjustments based on the height of the patient's bed. Additionally, the ActiveSense Tilt Detection system helps healthcare professionals determine the appropriate lift adjustments based on the patient's movements. This feature is particularly useful when dealing with patients experiencing pain or restlessness, ensuring a safe and comfortable transfer. Moreover, the ceiling lift is lightweight and portable, enabling its use across different patients and rooms.
Employing ceiling lift equipment has been proven to decrease the injuries associated with both patient and caregiver lifting, transfer, and repositioning tasks. Requiring less storage space, most ceiling lift designs don’t need any floor space either, making them preferable for smaller homes or hospitals and care facilities where space is always at a premium. Ceiling lifts are usually designed to accommodate heavier working loads and require less physical effort on the part of the caregiver to maneuver the patient.
While we explain some of the benefits and features of these unique lifts more thoroughly in our article on how to choose the best ceiling lift, some of the more important reasons to choose a ceiling lift include fall prevention, enhanced patient security, comfort, and dignity during transfers, and the reduction of the number and severity of caregiver injuries. As most people who use them say again and again - ceiling lifts are the best investment you can make to properly care for someone living with mobility challenges, especially when the condition is long-term.
Always powered, ceiling lifts come in three basic style designs that include permanent, portable, and free-standing, with two general motor types. Permanent or fixed configurations come with overhead tracks and/or gantries and have a lift motor that permanently attaches to the track. Portable models also use fixed ceiling track systems in multiple rooms but can be detached from the track in one area to attach it to another section of the track for continued support. Freestanding ceiling lifts are typically designed for quick and easy assembly right where you need the support and can be quickly disassembled for storage when they’re not needed, as they do take up some floor space. X-Y tracks provide more versatility as the tracks go in different directions to offer support in various areas.
Other design features, such as in-rail charging (IRC) or continuous charge and propulsion options are ideal for wheelchair users or people with mobility disabilities who live alone, as this type of lift enables independent use that doesn’t require a caregiver’s assistance. Longer lift straps provide a larger lifting interval, enabling transfers from the floor, which makes them helpful for users prone to falls. While every ceiling lift provides vertical (up and down) movement, some lifts also offer horizontal (left and right) movement and others provide a rotational device to enable pass-through movements through doorways and better accessibility.
Most quality lifts will offer multiple safety features, such as an emergency stop, a way to manually move the patient during power failures, and waterproof remotes for safe operation in wet environments like bathrooms.
Although some ceiling lifts come with slings, many users purchase the slings separately, ensuring they get the exact style and size they require. Most lifts have either two-point or four-point bar attachments for the slings, so it’s important to know what type of sling you need to use to ensure its compatibility with the lift you intend to purchase.
Determining your specific lifting needs will help you figure out what kind of ceiling lift design is right for the job. If you need short-term assistance while healing from an injury, illness, or surgery, a freestanding or portable option will tend to work best. If you need long-term assistance for seniors aging in place at home, people living with long-term mobility disabilities, seniors in long-term care facilities, and patients in hospitals, a permanent ceiling lift option would be more suitable.
Medicare Part B may cover durable medical equipment like patient lifts if your doctor prescribes it for use in your home. To more fully understand the process of being approved by Medicare, it’s always advised to consult with your doctor before you make a purchase decision - which will also provide you with more valuable insight into your product selection.
Because they vary widely in quality and design features, ceiling lifts and their installation can cost anywhere between $550 and $14,000, with the national average at about $8,000. Most quality ceiling lifts will fall somewhere in the $3,000 to $6,000 price range.
While Medicare often helps pay for manual patient lift equipment, it usually doesn’t cover electric lifts. We suggest you talk with your doctor about what kinds of patient lifts will work for you and are medically necessary, as there are other ways to get Medicare to help, such as with an Advanced Beneficiary Notice (ABN).
Whether you use a manual or power Hoyer lift in a ceiling or sit-to-stand format, the basic premise of use remains the same - a sling is applied under the patient, attaching securely to a bar on the lift, lifting the patient into the air in various directions for transfers. Some Hoyer ceiling lifts rotate, some can only move vertically, while others can move both vertically and horizontally. We recommend watching this video about how to perform safe patient handling with Hoyer lifts.
Ceiling lifts come in a variety of design options to provide lifting and transferring support for patients living with varying degrees of immobility. As an important component of safe patient handling and fall prevention programs, ceiling lifts significantly reduce injuries for both professional and family caregivers and their patients and loved ones. They also provide a more discreet, comfortable, and dignified experience for patients than manual lifting procedures.
We researched the best ceiling lifts on the market today, evaluating their design features, durability, performance, functionality, and cost, combined with feedback from the real-life users of this equipment.
Making our list with its versatile freestanding portability, the Traxx Titan 500 Patient Lift System comes in 8, 10, or 12-foot length options to fit your space, while the Molift Air 205 and 300 Ceiling Lifts also offer two different weight capacity models and can be used for horizontal transfers and gait training. The XY Gantry Track and Ceiling Lift Kit by GoLift is easy to attach and detach from the dual tracking system, while it also provides an instantaneous mechanical and electrical connection for safer independent usage. The Maxi Sky 440 Portable Ceiling Lift by ArjoHuntleigh features an innovative Tarzan hook for convenient pass-through swinging between tracks and an economical price point.
Although every lift in this review would be the best choice for someone, we determined the Handicare Ceiling Lift and Track Package - Master Bedroom to Bathroom to be the best overall choice for most home users. Its pre-designed track makes installation easy and hassle-free and it provides both vertical and horizontal movement that’s quiet and smooth. Its power-traverse with constant charge enables many patients to use this device without assistance, enhancing peace of mind and security for people living alone.
For more information about safe patient handling, check out our complete patient lift catalog. You can also find the daily living support you and your family need to know about at Caregiver University, an educational blog that contains comprehensive information on a wide range of health, medical, and disability topics.
Co-Founder of Rehabmart and an Occupational Therapist since 1993. Mike has spent his professional career working in multiple areas of Occupational Therapy, including pediatrics, geriatrics, hand therapy, ergonomics and inpatient / outpatient rehabilitation. Mike enjoys writing articles that help people solve complex therapeutic problems and make better product choices.
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