No bi-pap before sleep study?

[SnoringPugs]

My husband has been on bi-pap for over 15 years with the same machine and has never had another study or follow up. His machine has been making funny noises so he is finally trying to get a new machine.

The place that his primary doctor referred him to is saying he needs to stop using his bi-pap for 3-5 days or the test won't be accurate.
To get a machine before our insurance changes they said he can do a home study, which would also mean not using his bi-pap. Either way, it seems like they want him to stop therapy to get a new machine.

Has anyone else heard of this? Is it safe to not use it for a few days? My husband says he can't do it, won't do it, and shouldn't have to do it.

[LSAT]

Call the insurance company to verify...If he has been using the machine for 15 years and the insurance company has been paying for supplies, he shouldn't need a new study. Don't believe the DME...always verify with your ins company.

[Pugsy]

Yes, I have heard of doctors doing this......suggesting no cpap for a few nights before any sort of sleep study.
This is because there is some thought that there might be a hold over effect from past continuous cpap use so that the first couple of nights after using cpap the OSA isn't as remarkable as it might be after more nights of not using the cpap.
It doesn't always go straight to worst case scenario OSA when cpap isn't used.

In other words if there is sort of a hold over effect then the first night not using cpap might give a false negative result and we wouldn't want that.

Now how much weight there is to the "hold over effect" I don't know but I do know that a lot of doctors and techs believe there is some weight to that argument.

Do check with the insurance company though....they may not require a new sleep study just to replace an ailing machine.
Sometimes DMEs and doctors make up their own rules and blame the insurance company for them.

[SnoringPugs]

Thank you both!

I called the insurance and they said he needs a statement of compliance from his primary along with note that his machine is older than 5 years. That will save both the insurance and us the cost of the sleep study.