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Two week wait for DME to dispense my CPAP device
#11
RE: Two week wait for DME to dispense my CPAP device
My wait was even longer. The DME folks (sole supplier of BiPAP/AVS machinery to my insurance carrier's members) received a Rx from my sleep doc. A week later, a sales person called, and said she'd call back later. Six weeks later, I had a review session with my sleep doc. When I told her I hadn't gotten a callback (or even a callback number -- they hide it from the caller ID) from the DME, she called them and read them the riot act.

A week later, I got my machine. (It's my second. The first was a Philips Bi-PAP.) The new one's a ResMed AirCurve 10 ASV, which is supposed to be a good machine. I've had it two days. The first day, I played around, trying to find the right combination of stap tension. Yesterday, I thought it was set pretty well, and I got in a nice 5-hour sleep (that's long for me).

Today, I'm going to poke around in the clinician's setup menu, and see if I want to change anything. (I have copies of my RX (with settings), as well as the data and interpretation of my last three sleep sessions...so it should be fun.

Since I've been with this sleep doc, My diagnosis has gone from from having OSA to CSA, to Complex Sleep Apnia... and from having regularly spaced REM periods, to having three 30-min REM periods clumped tight in my last 2.5 hours of sleep. My avg number of apneas/hr has decreased, from 56 to 6, and lowest Sp02 from 74 to 96%... and no more 150-second no-breathing period. So I guess I'm making progress.
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#12
RE: Two week wait for DME to dispense my CPAP device
(07-30-2015, 10:15 PM)Mosquitobait Wrote: Not true. Most insurance contracts require that the DME provide training and information and often followup. If you want to skip all that, then you have to shell out for your own equipment at an online retailer. If you want someone else to pay for it, you have to jump the hoops. Service (even bad service) is why they get paid more for all this crap err cpap stuff. My loaner was free. Online retailers don't provide that service free (just as an example).

That's still just time spent with the patient, and has nothing to do with a 2 week wait for the machine.

Also, for someone with a 20% co-pay and a DME with machine prices based in fantasy-land, the entire online price is pretty close to the co-pay price.

I paid 20% of a mask that was billed out at close to $400, for example.

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#13
RE: Two week wait for DME to dispense my CPAP device
(07-31-2015, 06:40 AM)Terry Wrote:
(07-30-2015, 10:15 PM)Mosquitobait Wrote: Not true. Most insurance contracts require that the DME provide training and information and often followup. If you want to skip all that, then you have to shell out for your own equipment at an online retailer. If you want someone else to pay for it, you have to jump the hoops. Service (even bad service) is why they get paid more for all this crap err cpap stuff. My loaner was free. Online retailers don't provide that service free (just as an example).

That's still just time spent with the patient, and has nothing to do with a 2 week wait for the machine.

Also, for someone with a 20% co-pay and a DME with machine prices based in fantasy-land, the entire online price is pretty close to the co-pay price.

I paid 20% of a mask that was billed out at close to $400, for example.

My machine had to be ordered because it wasn't stocked. If they stock yours, yeah, I'd be mad. Remember that your 20% is based on the contract price with your insurance company, not that ridiculous price they bill for.
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#14
RE: Two week wait for DME to dispense my CPAP device
I called the DME again today and asked if they had received any cancelations - that bumped me up by one week. I'm sure hoping I feel better after a reasonable time getting used to CPAP. Thanks everyone for your replies.
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#15
RE: Two week wait for DME to dispense my CPAP device
(07-31-2015, 03:33 PM)Dagmar Wrote: I called the DME again today and asked if they had received any cancelations - that bumped me up by one week. I'm sure hoping I feel better after a reasonable time getting used to CPAP. Thanks everyone for your replies.

There is the old saying that the squeaky wheel gets the grease and sometimes that is true.

I had my sleep study June 9th, 2009, and got my machine at the end of July 2009. So I waited a good 6 weeks. Then after that I waited 9 weeks for my first check up appointment with the sleep doctor.

As for making diabetic patients wait for training on insulin..........it varies depending on the doctor. My doctor didn't believe I was type 1 and insisted that I continue with oral meds. I kept getting sicker and sicker and lost over 40 lbs in less than 3 weeks. Finally my husband raised a fuss at the office insisting that I be given an appointment with the doctor. The doctor was furious and said "You haven't been taking your oral meds, now I have to put you on insulin." Within 1 week I started to feel better and my blood sugars started coming down. I left that doctor and went to an Endocrinologist who ran additional blood tests and said "why did you wait so long to come see me"? Duh.......because the doctor was mis-informed??? Needless to say that doctor is no longer practicing medicine in our town, much less our state.

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#16
RE: Two week wait for DME to dispense my CPAP device
my DME gave me a choice. 1 mo out appt if I drove 30 miles and got it dispensed in a "class" setting (6 of us in same session) and 2 months out if i preferred a local (5 mi away) appointment which would have been just me. I ended up taking option 1 - and now if my S9 needs repair, I have to go all the way over to that office with it - but I was at least able to try a new mask at the local one.
هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه  هههههه
Tongue Suck Technique for prevention of mouth breathing:
  • Place your tongue behind your front teeth on the roof of your mouth
  • let your tongue fill the space between the upper molars
  • gently suck to form a light vacuum

Practising during the day can help you to keep it at night

هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه هههههه  هههههه
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#17
RE: Two week wait for DME to dispense my CPAP device
Only way to speed things up is with possible liability. Diagnosed heart problem works magic. Call to DME at noon, will call back at 3pm no call, call DME at 4 pm 7-10 days for insurance. Call to insurance 4:20pm, while I was on the phone they called the DME, picked up that unit after hours that night. Noon to 5:20 same day Smile
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#18
RE: Two week wait for DME to dispense my CPAP device
The main delay in my case was waiting for the sleep study and then the Resperologist who gave me a prescription and a list of "approved" suppliers. I chose one nearby by bus and had an appointment three days later and left with a Philips test machine which I used for a month. Then I took it back to the DME and they gave me a brand new Resmed A10 auto and I left with it that day.

After a few weeks on the new machine they set me up with an oxymetry study and sent the results to the Resperologist who prescribed supplemental O2 and the rental machine was delivered about three days later, just before the Christmas vacation. Six months later the insurer said I should purchase a new concentrator and that was delivered a couple of days later. My Blue Cross insurance paid the whole shot for the machines and since I am in Canada Medicare payed for the sleep studies (there were two, first and oxymetry, then a full overnight study in a room at the hospital).

So my experience with this DME is pretty good and the most frustration was the waiting times for the sleep studies and for the first appointment with the specialist.

I did have to fork over $200.00 as a deposit for the titration machine which, however, was refunded when it was returned and the new one puchased.
Ed Seedhouse
VA7SDH

Part cow since February 2018.

Trust your mind less and your brain more.


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#19
RE: Two week wait for DME to dispense my CPAP device
Moronic DME's...You'd think that the money they make from overcharging the insurance companies off of one person's account that they would be falling all over themselves to provide stellar customer service!

But no.
So far all the ones I have talked to in person were total idiots that must have flunked elementary school science.
One even told me that if I left my nebulizer unit plugged in then mold would grow inside it and that was not covered by warranty.
So I'm like...What planet are you from? It sure ain't Earth!

Those of you that have found a good DME: Awesome! Like finding a good car mechanic.

Smile

"With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable." - Thomas Foxwell Buxton

Cool
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#20
RE: Two week wait for DME to dispense my CPAP device
(07-31-2015, 03:33 PM)Dagmar Wrote: I called the DME again today and asked if they had received any cancelations - that bumped me up by one week. I'm sure hoping I feel better after a reasonable time getting used to CPAP. Thanks everyone for your replies.

Oh, I'm so glad that you were able to get in earlier! I tried calling daily to get in earlier for my titration and that didn't work. Oh-jeez I think they simply don't have enough nighttime PT employees to do the job - they certainly had enough sleeping areas for another employee.
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