Are Follow Up Appointments Necessary?

[do57672]

Hello. I had my yearly physical at my family doctor's office and she was asking all the general questions and she brought up CPAP. I told her it was going good and she wanted to know if I had seen the area sleep doctor for follow ups. I told her no because I am 100% compliant and don't have any issues and monitor my info. Any way after the appointment I started thinking more about the question. I don't really see any need in going to the doctor and spending money to have them ask me a few questions and read my graph printouts that I can do myself. I use my machine every night averaging 7.5 to 8 hours, my ytd AHI is 2.2 and I feel fine. I played with my pressure a little when starting.....titrated at 15, did that for a month or so, switched to the auto feature until I realized it was waking me up from the pressure changes, and finally settled on 12 because it seems a good balance between stomach pain, low ahi, and feeling rested.
So I guess my question is, as long as nothing strange starts happening is there any reason to even go to a sleep doctor or are there other things that they might notice or want to check out? I haven't been since my 30 day follow up but they try to get you to go every 6 months I think.
Thanks for the help.

[NotLazyJustTired]

Generally, I would say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. However, if you have a doctor who is willing to look at your data and can add value to your treatment and you have good insurance coverage, I would say, yeah do the follow ups. However, if your doc is like mine and does not even look at the reports, then no, that's a complete waste of time and money.

[kteague]

I personally don't feel a need for frequent visits as my treatment has been pretty routine for years. However, some insurances require visits, and some doctors require a face to face if being asked to renew prescriptions, etc. For instance, a DME just told me when trying to order a mask that in addition to a prescription and a copy of a recent sleep study, Medicare requires a copy of the doctor's notes stating I am using my CPAP and am receiving benefit from it. And there may be occupations where there are benefits to the documentation a doctor's visit provides. But in general, do you NEED follow-ups? Probably not.

[do57672]

Thanks guys. That's pretty much what I was thinking.

[LSAT]

I saw my original "sleep doctor" and got a prescription. Then saw him again at 3 months. It has now been almost 5 years without seeing the "sleep doc". My Cardiologist uses a CPAP and we occasionally compare notes.

[RandyJ]

If you have a copy of your prescription for equipment and mask and are self paying, you may be all right without seeing a doctor for follow ups.

If you use insurance, however, and need to update items like masks etc. through a DME, sometimes getting the Dr to sign off on things for the insurance company might be more difficult if he hasn't seen you in more than a year. It is just sometimes a business issue: the Dr doesn't get paid for filling out paperwork for you, faxing the DME, etc., so sometimes they insist on a yearly visit in order to get paid (insurance only pays when you have had face time with the Dr).

[StuUnderPressure]

a DME just told me when trying to order a mask that in addition to a prescription and a copy of a recent sleep study, Medicare requires a copy of the doctor's notes stating I am using my CPAP and am receiving benefit from it.

That is only required for your 1st purchase (machine and/or supplies) that you make AFTER being enrolled in Medicare.

[MagsterMile]

This discussion on follow up visits to the DME is of interest to me. The DME told me recently that they aren't making any money on me when I come in for a mask fitting or when they run my SD card. I always ask for a copy of the report. So, it seems the RT's time with me and printing a copy of the one page report is not compensated.

[StuUnderPressure]

This discussion on follow up visits to the DME is of interest to me. The DME told me recently that they aren't making any money on me when I come in for a mask fitting or when they run my SD card. I always ask for a copy of the report. So, it seems the RT's time with me and printing a copy of the one page report is not compensated.

Those services are compensated to the DME in the price of the machine & accessories they initially sold to you.

That is why Medicare & some insurances will not pay if you buy online.
They want the local physical DME to provide those services to you as part of the price they pay for the initial machine & accessories.