Have to send my Memeory Card to my DME

[fredn]

My DME sent me a letter and envelope asking me to send then my SD Card .... guess it's "check my compliance time" .... I had another Card that I put in my Resmed S9 VPAP Auto .... I didn't want to loose any "detailed" data while the card was on it's way to them and then back to me. What's the best way for me to do it? Should I leave my card in the machine until I get the other one back .... dump my card to my PC then, and go back to using their card? Or is there some other sequence or way that I should do things to make sure that I don't loose any data.

Thanks .... Fred

[LinkC]

Yes, your plan will work. But even if you should lose a night or two it's not the end of the world.

I would ensure the patient info is identical on both cards or it may think they represent two different patients.

[Kenwood]

I've sent my card to my DME twice in the last month. What I do, since I look at my stats every day on SleppyHead, I copy the FOLDER from my machine SD card to my computer desktop - then copy the FOLDER to a Backup SD card. Then just to make sure, I update Sleepyhead using the backup card just to make sure the data transfer worked. Then send the Backup SD card to the DME and put the original SD card back in my CPAP machine

[jencat824]

I emailed the data from my card to my DME (Nationwide Medical). It was my ICON data, I haven't had to send the PRS1 data yet, but plan to do the same. I just called DME & asked them if I could, they said yes & gave me the email they wanted it sent to. I did this to keep from losing my card & data (Nationwide is a large outfit & mail order only).

Maybe this could be an option for you?
Jen

[Al N]

Mine sent the new card In the mail with a return envelope for the old one they wanted. I agree with previous post one or to nights won't be a big deal. My memory still hasn't came back to me. I leave mine out every once in a while and don't notice till I go to check my data. Your plan should work just fine though.

[sleepstar]

Your machine will still record data when it doesn't have the card though? once you put it back in the data records to the card (my understanding anyway)

[fredn]

For those that offered that missing a day or two of data isn't the end of the world .... you obviously aren't "obsessive compulsive"

Thanks for all your replies .... I think I'm gonna go with dumping my card data to my LapTop as a safety measure .... I could even create a 2nd patient in ResScan and Sleepyhead and switch patients when I switch cards ... I even wrote down all of my machines settings in case my DME decided to "tweak my machine" without letting me know.

again .... thanks .... Fred

[RandyJ]

It really isn't the end of the world. Looking at a single night's detailed waveform data is only useful when the night has been particularly bad, either data-wise (high AHI) or because you woke up feeling horrible and want to look for clues in the night's waveforms.

Most of the time, we are only interested in trends, what AHI and pressure are doing over several day or monthly periods.

Even if you are without your card for a week, your machine continues to record all summary data (AHI, leak, pressure, time slept, etc) and will write it to the card the next time you put it in. The only thing you wouldn't have are those breath-by-breath waveforms.

I download my data once a week from the card and quickly scroll through daily summaries, rarely even needing to look closely at any graphs except for leaks.

Two years in and it's all become rote...

[Kenwood]

I've sent my card to my DME twice in the last month. What I do, since I look at my stats every day on SleppyHead, I copy the FOLDER from my machine SD card to my computer desktop - then copy the FOLDER to a Backup SD card. Then just to make sure, I update Sleepyhead using the backup card just to make sure the data transfer worked. Then send the Backup SD card to the DME and put the original SD card back in my CPAP machine

....and this is the reason WHY you should NOT send your original SD card to the DME. I got the envelope back from my DME and it was missing my SD Card. Since the dumbs DME put my card in a normal envelope...when it went through the post office sorting machine...it must have squirted the SDCard out of the envelope. My SD card now GONE!!

[Randyp1234]

Like others I just did a sync to my software and then sent it out. While it was away I used a spare SD for the camera. When the card returned I did another sync and then replaced the card. I did not make any separate patient data folders it all just went to one.

Randy

[jencat824]

Kenwood,

This is exactly why I asked if I could email it, I was afraid of losing it in DME's office as well as losing it via snail mail. Sorry this happened to you, but maybe those with a local DME can just drop it off in person?

Jen

[porete]

Kenwood,

This is exactly why I asked if I could email it, I was afraid of losing it in DME's office as well as losing it via snail mail. Sorry this happened to you, but maybe those with a local DME can just drop it off in person?

Jen

My DME is local and I just drop mine off in person. However, I make sure to put it in a Ziploc bag and label it very clearly as belonging to me. I put my name, address, and phone on a piece of paper and tape it securely to the bag. I don't want to take any chances that they mix it up with someone else's card. So far, I haven't had any trouble.

[myconoclast]

When my DME asked me to send in my card, I took the new card they sent me, put it into my machine so that all the data that is stored on the machine (which includes compliance data for up to a year) was written to it, and then sent that card back to them. I kept my original card with my detailed data on it. The DME got what they needed (compliance info), while I didn't have to worry about my detailed data.

[StuUnderPressure]

When my DME asked me to send in my card, I took the new card they sent me, put it into my machine so that all the data that is stored on the machine (which includes compliance data for up to a year) was written to it, and then sent that card back to them. I kept my original card with my detailed data on it. The DME got what they needed (compliance info), while I didn't have to worry about my detailed data.

That is the best way to do it.

Only thing I would add it that "I" would first format the new SD card before putting it in my machine - just in case it has someone else's data on it.

But, I have had experience with someone else where the DME also sent them a letter asking for them to mail the SD card - but NO replacement SD card was included in the envelope. Later was told by the DME that they just expected the patient to be withOUT an SD card until they mailed it back to them. DME correctly said it was not a problem because the S9 AutoSet would automatically write back the information to the SD card.

What the DME is missing though is that you will not get some of the data for those days when the SD card is not in the machine.

Any Question that they only think Compliance Data is all that is important.

I called the DME & said why do you even need the SD card.
This person has a wireless ResMed Modem attached to the S9 AutoSet & you should be getting this information from the Modem.

Turns out that the modem only worked for 18 days & no body ever bothered calling the patient to tell them that.

DME was in town, so patient brought the SD card in person.
For 40 straight days patient was 100% compliant.
So, got rid of the modem & any further compliance monitoring (for Medicare) all in 1 visit.

[msla]

Argh! Just give us the software to create our own report and then send the report via email. Too simple and too easy to do I guess.