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Is my local DME crooked or is this normal?
#31
RE: Is my local DME crooked or is this normal?
(11-08-2018, 04:53 PM)SuperSleeper Wrote: I'll take back my previous terse reply.  Your later response likely indicates that you aren't "part of the problem" such as those DMEs many often deal with here.  Could be you're simply misinformed on some things due to your company's policies and training of staff.

That's a valid observation, and I can almost agree with it from my experience locally.  But I think that in a lot of cases, the reality is somewhere in between.  Here's my recent saga:

Having had a DME inflicted on me that I soon found out was incompetent (I had accepted the recommendation of the sleep clinic, not knowing what else to do), I put up with it for as long as I could, a few months, but eventually had to fire the DME for general incompetence & ignorance because my insurance is Medicaid, therefore my compliance period was ten months (is now zero), and I knew I couldn't take another seven months of that super-annoying, blood-pressure-raising crap.  So first I called my local rep for the insurer, the outfit that's administering our local brand of Medicaid, and of course learned that there would be no problem, go ahead, whatever.  One reason I did that is that I suspected it would be necessary to have the insurer stop payments to the DME because the DME wasn't likely to co-operate with what I wanted and would simply continue the insurance-billing.  And I was right about that, but I was unlucky in being assigned a poor level-zero bureaucrat at the Medicaid outfit who had been given responsibility without authority, who couldn't do anything meaningful like ending the payments, and whose only reactions were time-wasting and hand-wringing, figuratively speaking, over the phone.  I didn't bother escalating it to a supervisor; figured it wasn't worth the time and effort.  So I went ahead and told the DME to sever all formal ties, I'm returning your machine because I've bought my own (I was polite enough, believe it or not, to refrain from saying that the reason was the DME's incompetence & ignorance), and apparently the RT I was dealing with asked either the head of the company or the office manager what to do, and the answer was (are you surprised?) "Give him a runaround."  So that was what they did for the next month or so.  Finally I got terminally fed up and stopped calling or sending e-mail, and eventually the disconnection went through sort of by default, the insurer stopped paying, and I was able to get the termination paperwork completed and get free of that mess forever.

The RT I had to deal with, one of I think two at that office of the company, was no rookie, had been working with this stuff for many years, with several makes & models of CPAP machine, but didn't know how to change the machine's configuration beyond setting the pressure (no problem; I took care of everything, as I would have done anyway), was incapable of copying data from an SD card, had no idea what the cellular modem is or how it works (she thought that it's wi-fi, 802.11, and that the machine is "on the Internet" and that she could "see it on her computer" when what she was seeing was data that had been uploaded and the modem in my machine was actually switched off anyway).  She could barely use e-mail, may or may not have known how to use e-mail attachments, and freaked out when I offered to e-mail her the compliance data from the SD card as a zip file because she had no earthly idea what a zip file is.  I could go on, but you get the idea.

So she was ordered to give me a runaround, and she got together with the other RT and their receptionist at the front desk and they had a cute little conspiracy to stonewall me: an RT (either one) would make and confirm an appointment for me to visit at a date and time, and then she would tell the receptionist that when I arrived I was to be told that she was out of the office that day.  And so on.  All the usual stupid childish b.s. that stupid & ignorant people get their jollies from.  But of course I was expecting such nonsense and I immediately knew what was going on, so I didn't play their game very far. For the actual termination where the paperwork was signed, I insisted that they had to send one of their house-call errand boys over to my location because I refused to visit their office any more, so that's what they did.

Anyroad, my point is that RTs may or may not seem innocent in all of these shenanigans because presumably they get the same paycheck no matter what, so what motive do they have to rip off the patients?  My answer is that they're simply following the orders of their bosses, who are the greedheads I ranted about earlier.  That's also why I didn't bother complaining to the manager.  And Michael's story is a good example of what a patient who complains to the manager or owner of a DME can expect.

Fun stuff!  (Not.)

DMEs now make me vant to womit.

There's an excellent piece of ancient advice that goes along with Nelson Algren's famous trio of admonitions about what not to do in your life, and it's "Never play the other man's game."
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#32
RE: Is my local DME crooked or is this normal?
Why would the supplier need ANY medical information other than a prescription ?? I would try to find a new supplier. I know where I live in Canada there are many of them. All of them I’m sure want to sell you equipment.
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#33
RE: Is my local DME crooked or is this normal?
I would concerned that the DME doesn’t have the right to request  medical information if they are not providing you professional care or requesting validity of the need for the equipment, which would be the job of the insurance co.
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#34
RE: Is my local DME crooked or is this normal?
(11-09-2018, 05:17 AM)Lolagirl Wrote: I would concerned that the DME doesn’t have the right to request  medical information if they are not providing you professional care or requesting validity of the need for the equipment, which would be the job of the insurance co.

Theoretically, each insured apnea patient using CPAP therapy is supposed to be under the care of a licensed Respiratory Therapist employed by the DME. In practice, a lot of those licensed RTs are incompetent clowns who don't function as medical personnel at all and whose actual job is just to dole out the equipment and be unhelpful if not obstructive to the patients. Thus the emphasis here on AB on taking charge of your own therapy and becoming fully informed about it.

The DME's customer is not the patient. The DME's customer is the insurer. But there is a pretense that the DME and the RT are there to serve the patient and are part of the medical team.

Maybe it works differently in practice with canes, walkers, and wheelchairs rather than CPAP machines. I dunno.
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#35
RE: Is my local DME crooked or is this normal?
I have an update for this ridiculous story. In less than 72 hours after the initial nonsense that took place, I found another DME that was even five minutes closer and they gladly accepted my prescription (NOT EXPIRED!!!!!) and I only had to pay $9 through insurance for my P10 nasal Mask complete set, easy peasy. This new place is very professional and they don't have a doctor in sight (with a financial interest in the company) so I don't have to schedule any appointment just so that I can get supplies and they have a way bigger inventory and selection compared to that nonsense DME that tried to cheat me. For whoever was telling me that it is difficult to transfer to another DME and saying things like good luck trying to take my expired year prescription, I don't know what on earth you had to go through while transferring DME's because it was a piece of cake for me and all it required was a copy of my prescription and insurance.

Looks like I got the last laugh ?. Thank you all for your support on this one.
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#36
RE: Is my local DME crooked or is this normal?
Glad to hear it worked out for you!

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#37
RE: Is my local DME crooked or is this normal?
Congrats on switching DME's. Eat-popcorn
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEBSITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#38
RE: Is my local DME crooked or is this normal?
(11-09-2018, 03:55 PM)Michaely6 Wrote: For whoever was telling me that it is difficult to transfer to another DME and saying things like good luck trying to take my expired year prescription, I don't know what on earth you had to go through while transferring DME's because it was a piece of cake for me and all it required was a copy of my prescription and insurance.

Looks like I got the last laugh ?. Thank you all for your support on this one.


That was member dmeRT, who (I'm assuming) is an Respiratory Therapist working for a DME.

I'm sure he'll be glad to know that you were able to get the transfer done with minimal hoop-jumping.  Perhaps other DMEs will see how satisfied you are by moving to a new DME and won't be as problematic and rude as your former DME.

Patient empowerment at it's finest. I love it.

Well-done
SuperSleeper
Apnea Board Administrator
www.ApneaBoard.com


INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.


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#39
RE: Is my local DME crooked or is this normal?
(11-09-2018, 03:55 PM)Michaely6 Wrote: Looks like I got the last laugh ?. Thank you all for your support on this one.

Great, a happy ending! Glad to hear it. Congratulations.
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#40
RE: Is my local DME crooked or is this normal?
Thanks guys!!
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