Lincare Regional Rep states there are 250 mask options

[sleepycarol]

I went to the doctor this morning as I have been feeling cruddy the last couple of days and wanted to make sure it wasn't something more serious (hate the thought of catching the swine flue). My appointment was at 11:30 a.m.

I was the last appointment prior to their lunch break. After seeing the doctor and waiting to pay my bill (to the tune of $84.00 since she is not in-network on my insurance plan) I was aware that a drug rep, or so I thought, was supplying their lunch today. Often times, drug reps will come and bring in a fancy spread for them at lunch to capture their undivided attention why the doctor should prescribe their meds, etc. Of course the end consumer, pays for these dinners and the other perks provided to the doctors through increased costs when we purchase these items.

Today it was the regional Lincare rep that had furnished the spread set up in the waiting room. As I was paying my bill, the doctor and staff sat down to eat (except of course the person waiting on me). She immediately starts in explaining that their DME locations provide respiratory supplies to patients and can even provide the necessary medicine at no cost to the consumer on Medicare. Her big thing today was patients and cpap equipment. She tells the group that they are using remote monitoring to assess all their patients. That Medicare wants compliance monitoring as well as most insurance companies. According to her this is a good thing as they can watch for trouble areas in a person’s therapy. When they spot an issue with a persons therapy they can help that person tweak their therapy until it works. They monitor leak rate (highly stressed by her), number of events, plus of course the compliance data (added almost as an after thought by her). The doctor’s husband is the office manager and so he piped up and asked what they do for a person with a high leak rate. She states it is always the mask and they will work with the patient to find a mask that works best for them. He wanted to know how many masks are available to patients and she states there are well over 250 different types and styles of masks and one those will surely work for the patient.

About then my doctor looked at me and smiled and asked if I would give her a patient’s point of view. Of course being the shy reserved person I am,  I said you betcha.

I asked if there were so many masks choices available why did our local Lincare carry such a small selection? I stated that I wanted a nasal pillow mask and was told the only ONE model they carried was the Optilife. Her response, “well it probably wasn’t time for you to receive your new mask. You know insurance only allows them at a set interval.” I laughed and told her I was well aware of the typical interval of 3 months on hoses, etc. and 6 months on masks. I told her that since it had been over a year and half since my LAST mask that had nothing to do with it. Besides if I “qualified” for an Optilife why not others then? I asked why they only carry a couple of full face mask (the Comfortfull 2 and the Ultra Mirage, with the same number of nasal masks? She looked like she wanted to scream. She stated she was unsure how many or what types of masks our local Lincare dealt with. She told me to call and tell them she sent me and “they would treat me right.”

I then asked why Lincare supplies bare bones machines to most customers. I told her that the M series Plus machine only supplies compliance data and NO useful information. She had no answer for that. About then I told her that I was very proactive in my therapy and had the software to monitor it. I figured she would have a heart attack if she knew I actually have the EncorePro, so I mentioned EncoreViewer. She said she didn’t know of ANY patient that monitored their own therapy. Doctor backed me up and said yep, she had seen my reports.

What an eye opener this little adventure was!! Even the regional reps don’t have a clue of what they are trying to sell!!!!

[raneyday]

I love it! What a golden opportunity!

[BleepingBeauty]

Sounds like you "done us proud" when you had your say with the Lincare rep today, carol. I'm glad you took the opportunity to speak up. Maybe she learned something.

Congrats.

[Goofproof]

Is it true what I heard, "Next Week, you are scheduled to provide the Free Lunch"! Jim

You didn't mention what was on the menu, sounds like it should have been Crow. No doubt Lincare does have 250 XPAP masks for sale, it's just that they only have 4 lines for sale at each location, spread out all over the U.S. Or maybe they are counting mask pieces, where they are broken down, and each piece billed separately.

[cpapqueen1]

I would forward this post to Lincare and see what response you get from them.

[DoriC]

Great post, I wish I could have been there in your cheering section and to watch their faces. I'm sure you had them talking to themselves!

[DarkSideOfTheMoon]

I love it!!! Don't you wish you could follow her around on all of her rounds and embarass her in front of each doctor?!

[raggedykat]

I would stay away from LIncare if at all possible. I am still fighting with them for overcharging me for an oxygen rental. They have the worst customer service that I have ever encountered. I had the oxygen rental from May 26 through August 26 and they are billing me for four months......May, June, July and August. They absolutely refuse to understand that May 26 through August 26 is three months. The last answer I got from them is that my insurance rep. told them to bill me that way. They keep calling my house during the day even after I wrote in HUGE letters on the last statement that they had to call me at work during the day and gave them my work number. If I call them I can never speak to anyone, all I get is voice mail. There are a lot more things that have gone on but I won't go into it here but try to go with someone else.

[sleepycarol]

At this point, they are the only in network provider I am allowed to use BUT I haven't had to buy anything this year and don't plan on it if I can help it!!!

Most of my stuff I buy out of pocket (which I told the rep that I could pay a mere fraction of their cost online) to save costs. Typically one can get a mask for what their copay is by buying online or using cpapauction.com.

I live in a rural area which makes it difficult as you don't have a lot of choices. I tried a local mom and pop DME first and they were an absolute nightmare to deal with!!!! I quickly dumped them after they told me that an M series Plus is what I was prescribed when in fact I was prescribed an apap. I went to Lincare and they gave me an M series apap with c-flex without any problems. Other than that I have found they charge for every little thing in order to make more money. But this is typical of all brick and mortar DMEs. Everytime I go in (I have been on cpap for 2 years and have went into the local Lincare 3 times in that amount of time) there is always a new person in there to deal with.

In my experience local DME's are a big problem why so many are non-compliant. They do not offer you the support and help you need. Granted there are exceptions to this, but they seem few and far between.

[millich]

Not needing a DME any more often than you do, it might be worth it to travel further to one. Mine is perfectly willing to mail supplies to me with a credit card order.

[Kiralynx]

Not needing a DME any more often than you do, it might be worth it to travel further to one. Mine is perfectly willing to mail supplies to me with a credit card order.

But if they're going to mail supplies, and the co-pay = the online cost, why bother with a B&W DME?

[millich]

Oops. Guess I didn't read her post clearly enough. I'm able to get my things cheaper through them using my insurance.