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+--- Thread: Legality of provider changing settings (/Thread-Legality-of-provider-changing-settings)
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Legality of provider changing settings - Roger the Dodger - 06-12-2017
I got into technical mode , or whatever it is called, and changed my setting from 10 to auto between 8 and 12. I recently changed insurance and had to send a new prescription for consumables. I received a call from APRIA saying they had re-set my machine to 10. They refused to put it back to where I had it. It is MY machine, do they have any rights to do what they did? No big deal I have reset it to 9 to 15, based on informal chat with mu wife's sleep doctor, and switched airplane mode on.
RE: Legality of provider changing settings - silversnore - 06-12-2017
If you are still in compliance with your insurance company, you will need to submit the time used to meet the 4 hrs per night 70% of the time. I don't think that the dme really monitors your pressures unless you do something like a new prescription or something else for them to look at. The same thing happened to me, they changed my pressures back to the original prescript and I changed them right back to my settings. They are only concerned about getting paid for the equipment, will probably go unnoticed, don't think you will go to jail. Welcome to the forum and keep coming back!!
RE: Legality of provider changing settings - DeepBreathing - 06-12-2017
G'day Roger. Welcome to Apnea Board.
I would be extremely angry if somebody changed my settings without my knowledge. I don't know what the law is where you live, but here in Australia we have something called informed consent. Doctors get struck off if they are found to act without informed consent.
RE: Legality of provider changing settings - Roger the Dodger - 06-12-2017
Yep, I'm extremely angry. It is my machine, fully paid for and I can change it to whatever settings I want. I can stop using that provider. To me what they did is the electronic version of breaking and entering. I'm just curious what the rest of this community thinks and if it has experienced similar acts.
RE: Legality of provider changing settings - Sleeprider - 06-12-2017
The easiest way to address this is to have your doctor modify your prescription. You have the right to deny access to your machine's settings, and you could send a written demand to Apria denying them permission to change your therapy settings. If you have satisfied compliance requirements you could also deny them access to that patient data without prior permission, or just put the machine in Airplane mode, which removes the ability to transfer data in or out over the wireless modem.
RE: Legality of provider changing settings - trish6hundred - 06-12-2017
Hi Roger the Dodger,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Good luck to you with CPAP therapy.
RE: Legality of provider changing settings - PaytonA - 06-12-2017
Be careful. If you have signed an agreement with Apria when you first got your machine, they may actually own it technically. Just a warning. I have Apria and found out that I signed an agreement with them that says that they do not give up ownership of the machine. At least that is what they said to my insurance company and I have no way of disputing them since I either threw it away or I lost my electronic copy when my last computer bit the dust.
Best of luck and non bastardus carborundum.
Best Regards,
PaytonA
RE: Legality of provider changing settings - Hydrangea - 06-12-2017
(06-12-2017, 09:16 AM)Roger the Dodger Wrote: Yep, I'm extremely angry. It is my machine, fully paid for and I can change it to whatever settings I want. I can stop using that provider. To me what they did is the electronic version of breaking and entering. I'm just curious what the rest of this community thinks and if it has experienced similar acts.
I 100% agree with your sentiment.
My machine's modem is easily removeable, so I have removed it and tossed it. I also have mine on airplane mode, as I don't desire it to give off bluetooth.
If someone wants to suggest a new setting for me, they are welcome to professionally discuss it with me as I would expect any doctor or pharmacist to do. I don't take meds, referrals, surgeries, etc. without knowing fully why they've been recommended, as well as agreeing that they're warranted. And I feel the same about my pressures on my machine.
In the US, they *say* informed consent is required, but I think any informed person here in the US knows it's not true. (A dental book about that, which I like, is called Uninformed Consent.)
RE: Legality of provider changing settings - PsychoMike - 06-12-2017
(06-12-2017, 11:27 AM)PaytonA Wrote: If you have signed an agreement with Apria when you first got your machine, they may actually own it technically. Just a warning. I have Apria and found out that I signed an agreement with them that says that they do not give up ownership of the machine.
That's an interesting twist, Paytona, and another reason to avoid Apria in my books.
Depending of the wording of that contract, the coding they use for billing insurance and any invoices they give to the patient, they could be open to some big litigation. After all, you cannot accept money for the sale of the machine and not sell it (that's fraud)...it would need to be worded that the machine is supplied on a rental/lease basis with finite payments but continued use after the end of the payment schedule. Tricky wording needed to stay out of trouble.
On the other hand, if the machine dies, it's their machine....there's the potential that if it dies a day past the warranty period (as so many things tend to do), that they'd be on the hook for replacement (depending again on the contract wording). After all, if they are providing the machine as a rental / lease, they are responsible to provide working equipment for the duration of that rental / lease.
RE: Legality of provider changing settings - eseedhouse - 06-12-2017
(06-12-2017, 12:11 PM)PsychoMike Wrote: Depending of the wording of that contract...
Aye, there's the rub.
Just goes to show you should always read any contract you sign. Having said that, I have to admit that's advice that I myself have not usually followed.