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Good/bad DME supplier?
#11
RE: Good/bad DME supplier?
My little mom and pop DME sucks. They never return my phone calls, when we go there during the day there is never anyone there. They are terrible!
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#12
RE: Good/bad DME supplier?
I have used Lincare and Apria. Apria was awful. I've been fairly pleased with Lincare. As was mentioned earlier in the thread, it probably depends on the local office.
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#13
RE: Good/bad DME supplier?
(12-09-2019, 09:17 PM)70sSanO Wrote: I’ve always had a physical prescription in hand and did not let my doctor send it electronically.

I have always felt I have more leverage if I control the prescription and not the DME.  It takes a bit more effort, but you can call and talk to DME’s you are considering.  They’ll tell you to have your doctor send it, but you let them know it will give it to whoever can provide the right machine.

John

If you are on Medicare, your prescription isn't even usable if you plan to have Medicare pay. They contact the doc for an electronic prescription.  This is the custom due to auditing - it isn't actually in the 'rules'.
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#14
RE: Good/bad DME supplier?
(12-12-2019, 03:00 PM)Melman Wrote: I have used Lincare and Apria. Apria was awful. I've been fairly pleased with Lincare. As was mentioned earlier in the thread, it probably depends on the local office.

It TOTALLY depends on the local office.  My experience with Lincare has been down right FELONIOUS!  As in we bill for mask 'fittings' that never happened.  My local Lincare uses TYPEWRITERS!!  MAYBE SO THERE IS NO EVIDENCE??!?
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#15
RE: Good/bad DME supplier?
(12-14-2019, 09:27 PM)Mosquitobait Wrote:
(12-09-2019, 09:17 PM)70sSanO Wrote: I’ve always had a physical prescription in hand and did not let my doctor send it electronically.

I have always felt I have more leverage if I control the prescription and not the DME.  It takes a bit more effort, but you can call and talk to DME’s you are considering.  They’ll tell you to have your doctor send it, but you let them know it will give it to whoever can provide the right machine.

John

If you are on Medicare, your prescription isn't even usable if you plan to have Medicare pay. They contact the doc for an electronic prescription.  This is the custom due to auditing - it isn't actually in the 'rules'.

My idea when it was time to get a new machine was to have the Dr write me a physical prescription with the exact machine name and model, so the DME couldn't screw around.  Can they still do this electronically?  I know the DME is only interested in profit and nothing else.
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#16
RE: Good/bad DME supplier?
(12-14-2019, 09:27 PM)Mosquitobait Wrote:
(12-09-2019, 09:17 PM)70sSanO Wrote: I’ve always had a physical prescription in hand and did not let my doctor send it electronically.

I have always felt I have more leverage if I control the prescription and not the DME.  It takes a bit more effort, but you can call and talk to DME’s you are considering.  They’ll tell you to have your doctor send it, but you let them know it will give it to whoever can provide the right machine.

John

If you are on Medicare, your prescription isn't even usable if you plan to have Medicare pay. They contact the doc for an electronic prescription.  This is the custom due to auditing - it isn't actually in the 'rules'.

Nope.  I’m on Medicare.  Went to Medicare.gov and got a list of suppliers, got reviews, contacted, them and found a good one.  Picked up a prescription and dropped it off.  Picked up my machine, mask, etc.  and walked out with everything.

In all fairness, my supplement is F so I can go to any Medicare supplier.  I’m not sure if that works with an Advantage plan.  Hopefully HMO’s have some choice of DME’s.

John
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#17
RE: Good/bad DME supplier?
(12-14-2019, 09:34 PM)SorryIamNormal Wrote:
(12-14-2019, 09:27 PM)Mosquitobait Wrote:
(12-09-2019, 09:17 PM)70sSanO Wrote: I’ve always had a physical prescription in hand...
My idea when it was time to get a new machine was to have the Dr write me a physical prescription with the exact machine name and model, so the DME couldn't screw around.  Can they still do this electronically?  I know the DME is only interested in profit and nothing else.
I don’t know if they can do it electronically.  To be honest I would never trust them to do anything out of the ordinary and then let them send it off.

It is more of a hassle, but I physically pick the prescription up at the doctor’s office and physically take it to the DME.  Also make a copy of it.  I scanned mine into my pc.

Since they screwed up the centrals (mis-coded) in your sleep study, I would push the doctor to identify the specific machine, including model number (you can look them up and give it to the dr).  If the DME tries to swap a different one you have a copy of the prescription and tell them that is not the one on the prescription.

John
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#18
RE: Good/bad DME supplier?
I am under Medicare and when I got my new machine about a year ago, my doctor asked me what machine I wanted. I gave him two machines depending on whether I was staying BiPap or going CPAP. He said sounds good to me and wrote for the machine I wanted. Dispense as written, no substitutions.
Homer

Advisory Members serve as an "Advisory Committee" to help shape Apnea Board's rules & policies. Monitors are also Advisory Members, just with Extra Work assigned.

Membership in the Advisory Members group does not imply medical expertise or qualification for advising Sleep Apnea patients concerning their treatment.
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