I guess I am wondering about who is setting my machine’s Pressure if I buy online instead of at my local CPAP retail store. I know that only a licensed person can set it up according to my doctor. When I asked him his opinion about buying one online he gave me a strange look and told me I would be getting a poor mask fitting and who knows what the pressure would be set at.
First who is licensed to do it and how do I know if an online store is on the up and up and has it set the right way? I want a good price and some one who is legally able to do the job. I don't have any insurance and I do not want to spend the 1200 dollars the local guy wants to have a Therapist come to my house to do it. Boy are those house calls costly to have them set you up.
It feels like I am dealing with Shady providers online. I hope some one can help me out with this. Thanks
Hello I am thinking of buying a CPAP online I have questions
6 posts
• Page 1 of 1
Here is how it works.
You get the Rx from your Dr.
You phone in your order or order online
You fax or mail a copy of the Rx to the online supplier. It should have the setting on it.
They set the equipment acording to your Drs. instructions which are on the Rx.
Select a mask. This is the hardest part. Safest bets are Resmed ultra mirage, Swift and PB breeze
In a few days your new cpap will show up at your door.
Take it out of the box. Plug it in and go to sleep.
Sleep well knowing you saved a ton of cash by purchasing online. Buy a few masks with the cash and go out and have a nice meal at your favorite restaurant. Save the rest.
Thats all there is to it.
Others may have different experiences. Please post
Cheers,
Chris
.
You get the Rx from your Dr.
You phone in your order or order online
You fax or mail a copy of the Rx to the online supplier. It should have the setting on it.
They set the equipment acording to your Drs. instructions which are on the Rx.
Select a mask. This is the hardest part. Safest bets are Resmed ultra mirage, Swift and PB breeze
In a few days your new cpap will show up at your door.
Take it out of the box. Plug it in and go to sleep.
Sleep well knowing you saved a ton of cash by purchasing online. Buy a few masks with the cash and go out and have a nice meal at your favorite restaurant. Save the rest.
Thats all there is to it.
Others may have different experiences. Please post
Cheers,
Chris
.
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wading thru the muck!
- Posts: 2799
- Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 11:42 am
Bigdady,
Browse the cpap.com site (link below). Write down your list off questions and call their toll free help line. You'll talk to Ted or Adam or Becky or maybe even John (the boss) and they will be more than happy to answer all your questions and let you know just what is done with your equipment. If you are going to be paying yourself they are the people to see. You will get much better help than you will from your local supplier and a price that is a fraction of what you would pay locally. On top of that they are there answering the phone 8am to 10pm Mon-Sat. Try to get that from a local supplier. I've made a number of purchases from them and have been thrilled with every transaction.
https://www.cpap.com/
Browse the cpap.com site (link below). Write down your list off questions and call their toll free help line. You'll talk to Ted or Adam or Becky or maybe even John (the boss) and they will be more than happy to answer all your questions and let you know just what is done with your equipment. If you are going to be paying yourself they are the people to see. You will get much better help than you will from your local supplier and a price that is a fraction of what you would pay locally. On top of that they are there answering the phone 8am to 10pm Mon-Sat. Try to get that from a local supplier. I've made a number of purchases from them and have been thrilled with every transaction.
https://www.cpap.com/
Sincerely,
wading thru the muck of the sleep study/DME/Insurance money pit!
wading thru the muck of the sleep study/DME/Insurance money pit!
-
rested gal
- Posts: 12883
- Joined: Thu Sep 09, 2004 10:14 pm
- Location: Tennessee
hi Bigdady,
If this is what your doctor said, he's...well, no other way to say it... he's wrong.
Heck, I've read where the RT at local DME's have set pressures and other settings wrong. (A "DME" is the local home health care provider the doctor would send you to for your machine...far too many clueless-about-cpap people are employed by local DMEs.) I personally would trust the people at cpap.com to set a machine up according to the Rx a lot more than I'd trust many of the DME's I've read about. ( Not you, Christine! You're a good'un!! I'd trust YOU! )
I understand your misgivings, Bigdady. I'd feel the same way had I not already had wonderful service from any online store I've ever ordered from. The only - only - slight advantage I can see in going with a local DME is getting to try on masks and perhaps take masks back after a night or two if it doesn't work. That's still not much advantage if they don't stock the better masks in the first place. You don't get very far comfort-wise, even if you get to "try out at home" several masks, if all of the masks are cheap types. (And I'm not talking about the price tag you'll see at the local DME - even the "cheapest" made mask will be sky-high in price.)
But even trying out masks is not necessarily going to be true of many DME's. I've also read about local health supply stores that toss one cheap mask at you (oh yes, they'll make a big deal of carefully "fitting" it on you - but a poor mask is a poor mask) which ends up mutilating your nose or leaking like a sieve, and they tell you "too bad, you opened the package and that's it". You're stuck with a ridiculously overpriced poor mask until time for insurance to let you have another mask - 3 months, 6 months down the road. Then the DME will graciously let you have a different one, probably equally cheap and uncomfortable.
I've done all my cpap equipment (machines and masks) purchasing online, more than satisfactorily. Any questions I've had have been answered very knowledgably by the support phone people. I'd much rather rely on someone who knew what they are talking about on the phone, than be face to face with an employee at a local DME who didn't know beans (but acted like he/she did) and who (to keep his job) had to recommend whatever was on the store's shelves - even if he knew there were better more comfortable things "out there somewhere".
Whew...end of rant. Good luck, Bigdady!
If this is what your doctor said, he's...well, no other way to say it... he's wrong.
The only thing that requires that someone be "licensed" is the signature on the prescription itself. Signed by a licensed physician. After that, anyone can set the pressure according to the prescription.I know that only a licensed person can set it up according to my doctor. When I asked him his opinion about buying one online he gave me a strange look and told me I would be getting a poor mask fitting and who knows what the pressure would be set at.
Heck, I've read where the RT at local DME's have set pressures and other settings wrong. (A "DME" is the local home health care provider the doctor would send you to for your machine...far too many clueless-about-cpap people are employed by local DMEs.) I personally would trust the people at cpap.com to set a machine up according to the Rx a lot more than I'd trust many of the DME's I've read about. ( Not you, Christine! You're a good'un!! I'd trust YOU! )
I understand your misgivings, Bigdady. I'd feel the same way had I not already had wonderful service from any online store I've ever ordered from. The only - only - slight advantage I can see in going with a local DME is getting to try on masks and perhaps take masks back after a night or two if it doesn't work. That's still not much advantage if they don't stock the better masks in the first place. You don't get very far comfort-wise, even if you get to "try out at home" several masks, if all of the masks are cheap types. (And I'm not talking about the price tag you'll see at the local DME - even the "cheapest" made mask will be sky-high in price.)
But even trying out masks is not necessarily going to be true of many DME's. I've also read about local health supply stores that toss one cheap mask at you (oh yes, they'll make a big deal of carefully "fitting" it on you - but a poor mask is a poor mask) which ends up mutilating your nose or leaking like a sieve, and they tell you "too bad, you opened the package and that's it". You're stuck with a ridiculously overpriced poor mask until time for insurance to let you have another mask - 3 months, 6 months down the road. Then the DME will graciously let you have a different one, probably equally cheap and uncomfortable.
I've done all my cpap equipment (machines and masks) purchasing online, more than satisfactorily. Any questions I've had have been answered very knowledgably by the support phone people. I'd much rather rely on someone who knew what they are talking about on the phone, than be face to face with an employee at a local DME who didn't know beans (but acted like he/she did) and who (to keep his job) had to recommend whatever was on the store's shelves - even if he knew there were better more comfortable things "out there somewhere".
Whew...end of rant. Good luck, Bigdady!
Re: Hello I am thinking of buying a CPAP online I have quest
Go for it. Listen to rested gal. CPAP.COM has been a pleasure to work with. I got all kinds of !(#*$* from my doc's RT, and 2 DME places. I didn't care. They didn't want to give me what I want, so shop around. But prices and service and INFORMED HELP LIVE ANSWERING THE PHONE PEOPLE to go over your equipment will take away the stress. trust me I'm only 1 wk in, and I was about as ill-informed as anyone out there. A true DME dream. They work on commission and frankly never see it coming, stick to your guns, my DME'er never ever let me try on ONE THING. I learned all I know and that's saying something from this site. I am not a rep of cpap. or any DME'er, just a private CONSUMER PATIENT, who needs THEIR PRODUCTS.
Boy is this an industry in need of an overhaul, the way the DME's have treated customers.
Boy is this an industry in need of an overhaul, the way the DME's have treated customers.
Bigdady wrote:I guess I am wondering about who is setting my machine’s Pressure if I buy online instead of at my local CPAP retail store. I know that only a licensed person can set it up according to my doctor. When I asked him his opinion about buying one online he gave me a strange look and told me I would be getting a poor mask fitting and who knows what the pressure would be set at.
First who is licensed to do it and how do I know if an online store is on the up and up and has it set the right way? I want a good price and some one who is legally able to do the job. I don't have any insurance and I do not want to spend the 1200 dollars the local guy wants to have a Therapist come to my house to do it. Boy are those house calls costly to have them set you up.
It feels like I am dealing with Shady providers online. I hope some one can help me out with this. Thanks
6 posts
• Page 1 of 1