Did your DME provide follow up?

snork1 · Post by **snork1** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 4:16 pm

[quote="Anonymous"]I must live in a different world I guess. lol I had my sleep study done on a Tuesday night. The dme called Wednesday and set me up that night. They sent a therapist to my house after I got home from work at around 6pm. She stayed well over an hour explaining every little thing for me.She even made me take everything apart and put it back together again to prove I was comfortable with what she had showed me.They called me that Friday to ask how I was doing.

The sleep doc that my primary doc sent me to called me herself the next Monday (not her staff, but her) to check on me. The DME sent me a followup letter at 2 weeks for me to fill out.Then they sent me a new card in the mail at a month with a postage paid envelope to mail mine back to them.I did that this past Monday and they called me today to tell me how it looked (Which was excellent by the way - went from an avegage of 78 apneas per hour to 1.4!!)

Then to cap it all off my primary doctors nurse called me 2 weeks ago just to check and see if I was doing okay with the machine and to make sure I was happy with both the sleep doctor and the dme.

I dunno why I'm seeing such a different result in every single area, maybe I'm just lucky. I dunno.

Or maybe everyone should just move to florida!

roadwarrior · Post by **roadwarrior** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 4:29 pm

As far as I can tell, both my physician and the DME aren't concerned unless they were to be informed of my passing away in my sleep. The only thing I can say for my newer DME is that the new CPAP and both masks I choose came in factory sealed bags/box and nobody touched them since the factory. I like it that way frankly. He even allowed me to set my own machine up without opening the box of the new Respironics Plus M I ordered from them. Oh well....you can't have it all........

Sleepy-in-AL · Post by **Sleepy-in-AL** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 4:37 pm

ladytonya wrote:My DME is actually pretty good about followup. ...

Guest wrote:I must live in a different world I guess....

I'm glad to hear some positive responses. I'm sure that there must be more out there, but it is unfortunate that an overwhelming majority of us don't get basic support and follow up from our DME, especially at the prices they charge.

snork1 wrote:Your therapy must be working GREAT.....you are obviously dreaming well.

Cute! I'd like to have some dreams like that.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 5:20 pm

Sleepy-in-AL wrote:
ladytonya wrote:My DME is actually pretty good about followup. ...

Guest wrote:I must live in a different world I guess....
I'm glad to hear some positive responses. I'm sure that there must be more out there, but it is unfortunate that an overwhelming majority of us don't get basic support and follow up from our DME, especially at the prices they charge.

snork1 wrote:Your therapy must be working GREAT.....you are obviously dreaming well.
Cute! I'd like to have some dreams like that.

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 6:37 pm

Anonymous wrote: Remember tho, most of the people who are going to be active here are people who went looking for more information somewhere, and the really active peeps are the ones who were pissed off at the dmes. Yer results are going to be pretty tilted!

While speaking of tilt, remember too that the inactive ones who did not go looking for more information somewhere and will never find their way to a message board are probably quietly dropping out of treatment right and left. Dropping out due to no followup and/or clueless-about-comfort-issues followup from too many DMEs all over the country.

Sleepy-in-AL · Post by **Sleepy-in-AL** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 7:37 pm

rested gal wrote:
Anonymous wrote: Remember tho, most of the people who are going to be active here are people who went looking for more information somewhere, and the really active peeps are the ones who were pissed off at the dmes. Yer results are going to be pretty tilted!
While speaking of tilt, remember too that the inactive ones who did not go looking for more information somewhere and will never find their way to a message board are probably quietly dropping out of treatment right and left. Dropping out due to no followup and/or clueless-about-comfort-issues followup from too many DMEs all over the country.

Thanks for pointing that out Rested Gal. Its been said before and it really is true when people ask "Why is compliance so low?" The answer is "With the support that most patients get from the Docs and DMEs a better question is Why is compliance so high?"

While the results may be somewhat skewed, I think they are fairly representative of the industry. There are patients here from every major DME as well as lots of "mom and pop shops." While the typical poster here is someone who has gone looking for better support, Guest are you suggesting that the people posting here represent the minority of these DMEs patients who were treated poorly? Because, I believe the certification mentioned requires follow up and a standard of care for EVERY patient.

I don't believe that the posters here represent a minority who received poor service, I believe they represent those who didn't give up becuase of the poor service they received.

John Galt · Post by **John Galt** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 9:03 pm

After receiving my cpap, I have had no follow-up by the DME for a full year. I have contacted them repeatedly to receive filters. I've even asked to receive them regularly, but no contact or follow-up. Their initial contact with me was to provide me with obsolete discontinued equipment, but I didn't know that at the time so I've been stuck with it. The only contact has been to send me an outrageous bill on two occasions when my insurance company was slow to respond to their invoices for the rental of the unit.

When I returned to my sleep lab (at my request) for a follow-up titration, I asked for a new prescription to be given to me rather than sent directly to the DME as they did initially. I will now fill it at cpap.com and pay for the machine myself.

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 9:44 pm

Sleepy-in-AL wrote:I don't believe that the posters here represent a minority who received poor service, I believe they represent those who didn't give up becuase of the poor service they received.

Exactly. Well said, Sleepy-in-AL.

Severeena · Post by **Severeena** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 6:57 am

DME support? What is that? I was told they could now get my HR mask and I still haven't seen it yet. I was told my DME that my machine is from, could now get my HR for me. I have yet to see my HR.

I guess it is back to the other DME. I feel that DME's are not truthful in any type of dealings.

snork1 · Post by **snork1** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 8:47 am

I was just pondering............

I wonder if it would be worthwhile to report some of the more flagrant violations by DME's to the Better Business Bureau?

They SEEM to think they are above having to run their business as a normal business and by the same rules as a normal business. It might be nice to shock them with a touch of reality?

Darth Vader Look · Post by **Darth Vader Look** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 10:17 pm

[quote="Snork 1]I wonder if it would be worthwhile to report some of the more flagrant violations by DME's to the Better Business Bureau?[/quote]
I'm not sure how the BBB operates in the USA but if it is anything like the BBB your neighbours to the north have it will just be an exercise in frustration and futility, very much similar to what a DME provides. .

snork1 · Post by **snork1** » Sat Jul 08, 2006 10:54 pm

Darth Vader Look wrote:[

I fear you are correct.....But I can dream.....sigh.

Although it might be a low key way to give them a wake up call, and maybe shock them into rethinking what they are as a "service sector" business.

OK....there I am dreaming again...

snoregirl · Post by **snoregirl** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 7:27 am

My only experience with the BBB was years ago when I (stupidly) thought I would report someone. I was told it would cost me money to file a complaint. Had to be 20 years ago. I have ignored them since.

Sleepy-in-AL · Post by **Sleepy-in-AL** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 3:12 pm

Heres a thought. The original poster that promted me to start this thread gave us an idea. If JCAHO certification REQUIRES these followups to get and maintain certification, we should complaining LOUDLY and in force to JCAHO.

However, as I understand it, JCAHO is run by the organizations that it was created to oversee. So, I wonder how effective our complaints would be.

I'll have to do some digging to see what the specific requirements are and what the punishment for not following their rules are.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 3:46 pm

My DME, Lincare in NoVA provided about half.

I'm still fighting bad mask leaks. While they don't call me on their own initiative, anytime I call them I invariably am quickly connected to someone at least knowledgeable about the main products they sell. They do seem like they are trying to help me get my problems sorted out, but of course I'm not set yet (I've been at it about 3 months, went through 2 machines and they're ordering a 3rd mask for me to try).

On the other hand, they are not terribly interested in helping me with products aside from the "big three". I had asked about the new hybrid mask, he took the website link from me but said they dont' tend to go to smaller equipment providers. Again, this scenario has not yet fully played out so it may ultimately turn out OK.

So while I would vote "no" for purposes of this poll, I'm not nearly as badly off as the other Lincare customer on this thread.

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Additional Comments: Pressure MinE 11 MaxI 17.5

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Additional Comments: Pressure MinE 11 MaxI 17.5

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Additional Comments: Pressure MinE 11 MaxI 17.5

Did your DME provide follow up?

Did your DME provide the basic services listed in the post below?

BBB

Did your DME provide follow up?