Respironics "pulling" their Software

[blowfish]

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[NightHawkeye]

Howdy,

We met with Respironics over Medtrade. I'm pleased to say that they "get" the issue and care about getting it sorted out. Actually, I'll go further and say that from where I sit, Respironics has a very good grip on the future of the industry and an impressive team in place to guide the company to the next step.

The hurdle is finding a solution that accommodates physicians, traditional providers, patients and internet providers. I believe there are short and long term solutions that will allow patients to monitor sleep performance and please each segment of our industry. Respironics has put me in contact with the people on their end to continue negotiations and fix this problem.

As you can imagine, the specifics of each solution I hope to work through with Respironics contain confidential information relating to their business. Our company is able to be considered to work with Resprionics because of our long history of tightly guarding information they provide us. I must maintain this trust to solve the problem, which means no specifics until we are ready to launch our fix.

I know you, the community, would like a more direct answer to your concerns. I hope you can understand why I've released only limited information. I ask you to trust me when I say I am eager to be involved in ushering in a climate where CPAP'ers can track their nightly sleep performance without the pitfalls of doing so that we see today.

Johnny

Sorry, I am slow these days due to my centrals. Can someone translate this for me?

I'll give translation a shot. . ., mixed with my own perspective, of course.

IMHO, it means that the marketing folks at Respironics were surprised by the pushback from one of their largest customers. Since CPAP.com is not only one of Respironics biggest customers, but almost certainly sells more Respironics software than all of their other customers combined, Respironics can ill-afford to lose this money-stream.

Nevertheless, Respironics is feeling pressure from some of their other customers also, and can ill-afford to tell the other customers to pound sand.

Consequently, no one at Respironics has a clue as to how to proceed. On the one hand, they could declare a firm stand (which they have already done), and then back it up with actions, or on the other hand they might hope that their posturing is sufficient, by itself, to appease those currently critical of the software.

Regards,
Bill

[blowfish]

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[BadThad]

[quote="mth712"]You must have a really good DME provider. Did you have to pay for the software?

[jskinner]

Does any one know how long this issue has been ocuring?

Since day one of the M Series

is this a Vertion 1.6 issue?

The cause is unknown at this point. It could be hardware, firmware, or software.

is it on the same day for most of us? Is this random?

Random. There have been some theory's as to a pattern. For me it sometimes happens if there is exacty 7 sessions on the card and its the weekend.

I think what the heck we should pool our recorces and compair our "Notes" if you would...

Its been talked about at lenght on here, go back and search some of the older posts.

Then collectively we could go to Repsironics or see if CPAP.COM would be up to forwarding our problems strait to Respironics on our behalf..

Good luck with that. Many of us have contact them.

Is it even being recorded at all? what's the problem?

Unknown.

[Goofproof]

Thanks to the hype places like cpap.com can charge more and make more profit. I did find a place still selling the combo for $179. Some places want $250 just for the software. I will buy a PB machine if they come out with exhalation relief.

Maybe it's not the HYPE, Cpap.Com is a business, if the supplier raises the wholesale price of a product, you can bet most companies pass on the increase, the problem is if they see it as a licence to price gouge, and double the difference.

I would buy it at the best price I could, and get my treatment going well before my health got worse, rather than waiting for another company's technology to catch up with the other conpanies, just so I could get cheaper software. Jim

[Guest]

Uh-oh... hey guys, I can no longer find Encore Pro on the cpap.com website! Look under the software and readers category.... it's nowhere to be found, just the card readers! No Encore Pro software!

This isn't good... anybody know another source for the software? I might get it ASAP.... thanks.

Either that, or point me to the Encore Pro item page, if it's still there and I just can't find it.

[DreamSeeker]

Guest is right. From the Ver. 1.6 page:

This is Encore Pro v1.6. It does not work with Windows Vista. It is older than Encore Pro v1.8 but that is no longer available from Respironics

[SleepySandy]

Since CPAP.com is not only one of Respironics biggest customers

I'm wondering - how do you know this? Please don't interpret my question as anything other than curiousosity regarding how someone can find something like this out.

Uh-oh... hey guys, I can no longer find Encore Pro on the cpap.com website!

Oh, no! I'm glad I ordered and already received 1.8. I hope Johnny posts something about what's going on.

Sandy
hoping EncorePro becomes available again

[JohnK]

*sigh* One of the reasons I started down the path of getting diagnosed with OSA and going on therapy was because of high blood pressure. And now I see this happening and all it ends up doing is *raising* my blood pressure. Oh the irony. (At least I think its irony, I always get that confused)

[THier]

Ok,, I have v1.5,, will it work with a M series APAP? This is so screwed up,, I am getting a new APAP,, possibly a Bi-level,, but now the software is being yanked!!!!!

Tom

[Wulfman]

Ok,, I have v1.5,, will it work with a M series APAP? This is so screwed up,, I am getting a new APAP,, possibly a Bi-level,, but now the software is being yanked!!!!!

Tom

Tom,

The 1.5i won't work for the M Series (anything), but it was written for the Bi-PAP Auto when it came out in 2005.

All you need to do is to make sure that you get the "Legacy"/"Classic"/"Tank" model of the Auto Bi-PAP.

Den

[LyleHaze]

The reason I chose Respironics is because the software is available.
I ordered my machine today, but was a few dollars short of getting the software.
Looks like I missed my chance.
I am _SURE_ my sleep Dr. will not be helpful. He has already told me that there is no reason for a patient to see their own data.

Oh well, Stuff Happens.

LyleHaze

[NightHawkeye]

Since CPAP.com is not only one of Respironics biggest customers

I'm wondering - how do you know this? Please don't interpret my question as anything other than curiousosity regarding how someone can find something like this out.

Just deductive reasoning, SleepySandy.
- CPAP.com has lowest cost for individual copies of Encore Pro on the internet.
- Reports here indicate that lots of DME's do not have Encore Pro.
- Reports here indicate that few sleep docs seem to have Encore Pro.
- Apnea patients outnumber DME's and sleep docs in large numbers.

Could be wrong, of course. Maybe CPAP.com isn't the biggest customer for Encore Pro; perhaps Apria actually is. But, even if that's true, I'll just bet there's an upward trend on sales of Encore Pro from CPAP.com that shows them overtaking their rival very soon.

Regards,
Bill ( . . . just connecting dots . . . )

[SleepySandy]

Since CPAP.com is not only one of Respironics biggest customers

I'm wondering - how do you know this? Please don't interpret my question as anything other than curiousosity regarding how someone can find something like this out.

Just deductive reasoning, SleepySandy.
- CPAP.com has lowest cost for individual copies of Encore Pro on the internet.
- Reports here indicate that lots of DME's do not have Encore Pro.
- Reports here indicate that few sleep docs seem to have Encore Pro.
- Apnea patients outnumber DME's and sleep docs in large numbers.

Could be wrong, of course. Maybe CPAP.com isn't the biggest customer for Encore Pro; perhaps Apria actually is. But, even if that's true, I'll just bet there's an upward trend on sales of Encore Pro from CPAP.com that shows them overtaking their rival very soon.

Ahh

I misunderstood. The full sentence you posted was:

Since CPAP.com is not only one of Respironics biggest customers, but almost certainly sells more Respironics software than all of their other customers combined, Respironics can ill-afford to lose this money-stream.

I thought you were saying CPAP.com is Respironics biggest customer period (for all Respironics products - not just software) AND probably sells more copies of EncorePro than all of the other customers combined. I didn't realize you were talking about CPAP.com being the biggest customer for EncorePro only.

My mistake

I do hope CPAP.com is a big enough customer that they have enough pull with Respironics to keep EncorePro on the market.