Newbie with CIGNA Needs Advice

[ladyhen]

Awesome! I sent a request for info to HomeLink this afternoon and someone called me this evening. She's getting me all set up. Yay! Was NOT looking forward to dealing with Apria or CareCentrix based on experiences of others here! Thanks so much!

[Caring]

You should never receive your Cpap in the mail. Healthcare is not done this way. Cigna (CareCentrix) is one of the worst companies to deal with along with "Aetna". You should have been set-up by a Respiratory Therapist or Nurse who provided about an hour of time educating you and fitting you with the mask that's best for you. Anyone who receives their Cpap or Bipap machine through the mail should call the insurance commissioner's office in your state and report your Insurance Company. By-law, the insurance company can't do anything to you, it is completely confidential. The insurance commissioner's office does care and will do something about this. Your other route would be to contact "member advocate services or the "public relations dept." at the insurance company.

[pats]

You should never receive your Cpap in the mail. Healthcare is not done this way.

Maybe that is part of what is wrong with healthcare in the USA, and why it is so excessively expensive.

When I ordered my APAP I already had a mask that had been fitted for my by an RT for my at-home titration. From the point of view of computer and numerical skills I'm grossly over-qualified for installing something as simple as an APAP, checking its settings, and monitoring results. Nevertheless, if I had DME insurance someone would have come to my house to install it for me, and the DME would have monitored my "compliance". The services I did not need would have added to the real cost of the process, compared to the APAP just appearing on my doorstep, and the extra costs would have been inflated even further by the DME and insurance company both needing to make profit on providing them.

I think home installation should be available for those who want or need it, but should not be considered an inherent part of the process regardless of need.

[brucifer]

You should never receive your Cpap in the mail. Healthcare is not done this way. Cigna (CareCentrix) is one of the worst companies to deal with along with "Aetna". You should have been set-up by a Respiratory Therapist or Nurse who provided about an hour of time educating you and fitting you with the mask that's best for you. Anyone who receives their Cpap or Bipap machine through the mail should call the insurance commissioner's office in your state and report your Insurance Company. By-law, the insurance company can't do anything to you, it is completely confidential. The insurance commissioner's office does care and will do something about this. Your other route would be to contact "member advocate services or the "public relations dept." at the insurance company.

CIGNA is NOT Carecentrix (See http://carecentrix.com/about-overview.html). Carecentrix is one of the major in-network DME suppliers that subcontracts with many local DME suppliers throughout the USA. However, HomeLink does the very same thing, and they are in-network with CIGNA as well. HomeLink assigned me to an RT associated with ExtraKare out of Atlanta. I met with him, received ample training, and was given a host of options.

Also, there are times when it is reasonable for a new OSA patient to receive CPAP equipment in the mail such as when a patient lives in a very remote area and opts for such service. The xPAP machine can arrive pre-set from the DME supplier. Furthermore, CPAP equipment operation is not rocket science. While mask fitting can be a real bear for some people, the basic steps of operating a CPAP or BiPAP machine is pretty simple.

[Janknitz]

You should never receive your Cpap in the mail. Healthcare is not done this way. Cigna (CareCentrix) is one of the worst companies to deal with along with "Aetna". You should have been set-up by a Respiratory Therapist or Nurse who provided about an hour of time educating you and fitting you with the mask that's best for you. Anyone who receives their Cpap or Bipap machine through the mail should call the insurance commissioner's office in your state and report your Insurance Company. By-law, the insurance company can't do anything to you, it is completely confidential. The insurance commissioner's office does care and will do something about this. Your other route would be to contact "member advocate services or the "public relations dept." at the insurance company.

Caring, this happens all the time. I'm not saying it's right, but it's extremely common for the bigger DME's to drop ship equipment and supplies on newbies. So can you cite the laws that prohibit that????

[My2wins]

Recent first time experience with Care Centrix, I had nothing but employee confusion, lost paper work multiple times, non response.

It is an understatement for me to say that between my recent experience w/ Cigna, Care Centrix and Apria -- the system is completely and utterly broken.

Something must have changes since 2010-2011 when I first started CPAP and now in 2013 when I'm trying to resume it. Because it took me 6 weeks to get a simple prescription for a measly nasal pillow mask between the three entities above.

Between Care Centrix and Apria, I can't tell which was worse. But I suspect Care Centrix was the problem. From all the evidence it seems they are poorly managed and operationally inept. Hopefully they get it together because I would not be surprised if some people just give up rather than keep following up on lost paperwork after 2 or 3 times.

When its time to re-order, I am going to be very frightened.

[My2wins]

Ps. Case in point, they even sent me for more information to a portal that was just for providers to log in.