Is Hybrid being discontinued?

[Catnapper]

Hi

My cousin was at the DME yesterday and they told him the Hybrid mask was going to be discontinued. Is that true? Does anyone know anything about this?

My guess was that they may not continue to carry it because it may not make as much money for them as some of the other masks. They fixed him up with the Liberty instead. He had a bad night with it and was very disappointed. His first mask was the Quattro and it made the bridge of his nose break out in sores. That was not good at all. Another difficult time for a newbie.

It is a shame that starting cpap is so hard for most of us.

Thanks.

[AuntieNae]

I am a Mirage Liberty user myself. My DME said there are only a handful of us on that particular mask .. I understand your feelings, I could not handle a "traditional" full face mask .. and if both are discontinued, I would be in trouble.

[fortomorrow]

Not true.

viewtopic/t36726/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34930

[roster]

Not true.

viewtopic/t36726/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34930

Another incompetent DME!

Your cousin should insist on a Hybrid and a full credit for the return of the Liberty!

[fortomorrow]

Not true.

viewtopic/t36726/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34930

Another incompetent DME!

Your cousin should insist on a Hybrid and a full credit for the return of the Liberty!

My DME tried to insist that I come in for a fitting before they could "special order" the Hybrid for me. I told them that wasn't necessary as it comes with all the cushion and pillow sizes. They were totally going to keep the extra parts and send me home with what they thought I needed.

Make sure your cousin gets ALL of his cushions and pillows, if he needs them or not. He can always trade his extra parts on here for the sizes he needs.

[Snoredog]

LOL Dumb Medical Equipment providers!!

[boston]

LOL Dumb Medical Equipment providers!!

isnt that the truth

probably whats happening is their supplier isnt carrying it anymore because of lack of sales or not enough profit on them. Or those are the reasons they don't want to sell it, and its easier to say its being discontinued than say they cant make as much money with that particular mask, man they must make a killing on the comfort gels, seems they all push that one.

[roster]

Here is an old post of mine containing some information on why the DME would make this statement.

Let me guess: This is just another poorly informed DME being unprofessional.

The DME may be confused by some recent changes in the distribution of the Hybrid mask. DMEs seem to be more confused than their cpap patients.

RespCare (Innomed Technologies) is the manufacturer of the Hybrid mask. Teleflex Medical was the distributor of the Hybrid mask under contract with RespCare. RespCare recently dropped Teleflex Medical and signed an distribution agreement with DeVilbiss Healthcare to distribute the Hybrid mask.

This move should help the sales of the Hybrid mask increase.

I would panic if this mask were ever discontinued.

DMEs!

See---> http://www.sleepreviewmag.com/sleep_rep ... siness.asp

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=34930&p=299283&hili ... ed#p299283

.

[stacia123]

man they must make a killing on the comfort gels, seems they all push that one.

I agree. Most places in town that carry full face masks only carry the comfortgel, they won't carry anything else. The one place in town that carries multiple full face brands only carries 3 of them. Their lobby is full of comfortgel examples but nothing else, so they definitely push it. Like so much in the DME world, it has nothing to do with what's best for the patient and everything to do with profit.

[feeling_better]

This one is a bit off topic here, but in the general direction of DME Is it possible under the same insurance coverage, two DME vendor's copay charges could be off by 100%? I have 20% copay, and one DME quoted $28 and the other quoted $59 for the Mirage Liberty. Does the insurance company allow this, or is this just a slip up somewhere?

[feeling_better]

bump

[snoozeandlose1]

At this point I would say that almost anything is possibe with insurance companies. I haven't purchased a new CPAP because my insurance conmpany will not tell me how much they will pay toward a new machine. It could be 100% or it might be less if the DME charges too much. How's that for an answer?

[rested gal]

Is it possible under the same insurance coverage, two DME vendor's copay charges could be off by 100%? I have 20% copay, and one DME quoted $28 and the other quoted $59 for the Mirage Liberty. Does the insurance company allow this, or is this just a slip up somewhere?

My guess would be that the two different DMEs each negotiated a different reimbursement contract with your insurance company. Just a guess.

[WearyOne]

I believe rested gal is right. I know that Doctor A can have a different contracted amount with each different insurance company for a specific treatment. Doctor B can as well, but that can be different than the contracts Doctor A has with the same insurance companies. Now that Rested Gal mentions it, I'm sure DME's and other medical facilities work the same way. The Liberty I just got to try--my 20% coinsurance is $38.00.

Pam

[feeling_better]

Is it possible under the same insurance coverage, two DME vendor's copay charges could be off by 100%? I have 20% copay, and one DME quoted $28 and the other quoted $59 for the Mirage Liberty. Does the insurance company allow this, or is this just a slip up somewhere?

My guess would be that the two different DMEs each negotiated a different reimbursement contract with your insurance company. Just a guess.

rested gal, That is possible. But the difference is much too large here. If that is true, the first company's price (including their profit) was set at $140 and that of the second's $295 and agreed to by the same insurance company under the same plan!! I would investigate this further. Something does not compute right here, in my mind.

I had already bought my new mask at the higher price a few days ealier. Then the HMO group referred me to another dme for another item (not cpap related). I checked if the second one also carried cpap items and yes; the exact cost for the mask I already bought would have been less than half what I paid for (they both specifically used 20% copay). Usually in about a month I would get a detailed itemized bill, and see if that sheds any light.

If the above is indeed the case, that implies the insurance company reimburses one of them much higher; why should they not simply use the lower price one only so the insurance company's costs are reduced? BTW, there is one item I forgot to mention: I had selected the expensive company on my own earlier when I was on a PPO plan (after finding the costs between that one and another DME were identical for all cpap items, under the same insurance). This month I switched to HMO, and the new dme (cheaper) was referred to me then. Perhaps if my cpap prescription was also done now, the HMO group would have directed me to the cheaper dme for cpap too? I really want to think the insurance company wants to maximize their profit; that is where my puzzle come in. I will name names after I verify there was no accidental error in billing.