American Homepatient now Lincare?! Yuk.

[SleepyCPAP]

Hi Folks,
I just got a letter from American Homepatient that "American HomePatient has officially joined with Lincare" and that moving forward "your respiratory supplies and support will be serviced by your local Lincare Center... American HomePatient is very excited to become part of Lincare..."

I'm not excited by this. Lincare wouldn't issue me a data-capable machine when I started CPAP 7-8 years ago and I walked out on them and I've avoided them ever since. I used American HomePatient (mail order) when it made sense to charge supplies to insurance (which is rare). Usually I just get what I need on CPAP.com. I don't have to use Lincare I suppose, even for those potential future times I might meet my insurance thresholds, but I'm still not happy that the company that wasn't willing to work with me is now winning.

Anyone else hear of this? Reactions?

-- SleepyCPAP

[chunkyfrog]

(flushing sound)
If possible, get your doctor to SPECIFY the exact model of machine on the Rx.
Have him specify "FILL AS ORDERED".
Get a list of DME's in network for your insurance--you may need to change dealers.
Or insurance.

[Pugsy]

Lincare was the first DME I tried back in 2009 when first diagnosed and promptly fired before I was even able to take delivery of the machine they wanted to foist off on me.
It would be the last DME in the entire world that I would ever use...period.
They made an enemy for life.

But you know what...I had a chuckle the other day because I happened to drive past where their office was and it is now a pizza parlor.
Have no idea where they went to...and don't care.

[SewTired]

The turnover at all these large corporations is very high, so chances are, you wouldn't be dealing with whomever you had to deal with in the past. In some cases, they've had to be real sticklers to what the doctor's order says. I knew going in that I wanted a Resmed Airsense For Her and had the PA put that right on the prescription. My brother's doctor also ordered the Respironics Bipap for him specifically, although it was probably a non-problem since I think they only carry two brands of bilevel.

I had mostly good service from Lincare. It varies by the office and region. One of the complaints from the Lincare employees is sometimes dealing with the warehouse - the warehouse folks understand warehousing but not xpap and supplies. So, when we couldn't get the warehouse to fix it, the office fixed it by sending me the brand-name filters from their office. I only switched from Lincare to my current DME (part of my large clinic system) due to change in insurance. I'd happily go back to them - realizing, of course, that after a couple of years, there will probably be all new employees.

Note to Pugsy: They probably just changed locations. My office did. It's pretty hard to go out of business when you are one of only 2-3 large DMEs approved by Medicare in the bidding process for the surrounding 10 or so states.

[prodigyplace]

I have had horrible experiences with Lincare. Fortunately I located a good insurance person in their company that straightened some things out.

Do not sign up for Lincare's automatic supplies service. They select whatever they can send you to maximize their profit.

If you decide to just place your own supply order with Lincare, they hound you with emails (with a different name - CpapOrderOnline.com) when they determine you need to order more supplies because, they say, your insurance says you are eligible for them.

I am seriously thinking about switching to Roberts Medical. Does anybody here have experience with them?

[45011ohio]

No experience with Roberts Medical, but Lincare is the pits. I had been dealing with them since last May when I got re-diagnosed with SA. I took me almost 2 months to get my cpap from them to begin with after approval by the insurance company. Then they kept hounding me each month to order the max amount of supplies I was elligible for. Then, after having my diagnoses changed to central sleep apnea with a corresponding change to my DME, I found out that the new company I was refferred to ( Adult & Pediatric Specialists) is also a part of the Lincare umbrella network.(subsidiary)

I called my Insurance carrier and found out that they use a number of different DME companies. One of them is "The Home DME" . They were started in 2006 and are a part of US Medical Management according to their website.
I explained the situation to my sleep doctor and had him change my DME supplier to the new company. IF I can avoid using Lincare in any way I will!
I hope the change of companies harbors good things for my future treatment.
Good Luck!

[KenH]

I got changed to them also. I am getting a new machine after 7 years. I told them what machine I wanted and what mask I think I wanted. "We can get that machine but we dont carry that mask and you will have to get your dr to write an RX for it so we can order it". I told them to forget it and picked up my RX for the machine. Then they went ahead and ordered the machine and mask I wanted. I dont want to wait another month for them to cancel with my insurance company then the other company get it set up. I pick up my machine Monday.

[roamingwizard]

lincare is the worst ive been dealing with their incompetence for about 2 years since feb of 2018 i hd my cpap mask ,headgear andnasal pillows changed but the warehouse in florida keeps sending me the wrong mask supplies, ive tried contacting them but still getting my wrong equipment i wonder if its because pays for it they just seem not too care just keep billing medicaid for the wrong equipment. they just got too big for their britches. dont buy from them. if you need cpap supplies i suggest you ask your local hospital they usually handle medicaid patients and just make sure they dont work with lincare.