How long on Auto CPAP

[chrisp]

All Hail to Christine. The Nice RRT.

Hail Christine

Hail Christine

Hail Christine

[gailzee]

Let's put this thread to a hopeful rest. I do not take offense for being referred to as over exciited and certainly have tried my best to be informative and also learn from others. I was answering Ill. RRT No offense intended to anyone.

ARE YOU SERIOUS? Answer this question then, WHY DO THE MANUFACTURERS WHO SUPPORT DME"S ALL OVER THE WORLD, make AUTOPAPS...........CASE CLOSED.

Can't we ever convince someone, guess not.....oh well.

Christine RRT here...
Gailzee, are you referring to my post or someone else's? There is no need to "yell", although your attitude is generally against me regardless of what I say to defend myself. I came to this board to learn more and find that I am constantly defending, defending, defending. Your remark above about not being able to convince someone...yeah, well, it's hard to learn anything from someone who is constantly yelling at you and acting like you're an uneducated idiot. I am telling you all that in my area with the sleep docs that see my patients, I very rarely see an order for auto-pap. I don't know much about it. Obviously, it's very favored among members of this board. That's fine. And most people here are very gracious and helpful. And not to underestimate my patients, but most of them are not nearly as proactive about their health as you all seem to be. The majority of them don't even know their settings. So my opportunity to learn from them is usually minimal. Which is why I'm here. But since I don't see these people until after they've had an order from the doctor, and I have no contact with the physicians myself, pushing for an auto-PAP once I've seen the patient is usually going to be futile. I just asked a simple question about an existing patient. Thank you to all who have given constructive advice- I'm waiting to hear back from the doctor.

[wading thru the muck!]

Gailzee,

I said a LITTLE over excited. I know your frustration regarding the subject. Thanks for helping with the cause.

[IllinoisRRT]

Thank you for all your replies. About my open house, it went pretty well. Some of my patients hadn't been seen for a LONG time and were glad to replenish their supplies. For a long time, our company hadn't required feedback as far as machine maintenance and all of that on machines that were rented, so we hadn't heard from some people in awhile. So we did run into trouble with people who's insurance had changed in the time since they started, and we were no longer their "preferred provider." So my boss probably gave away several masks (how's that for an evil DME). But it did go better than I thought and I had a really good turnout. And would you believe that I bought all kinds of food and NO ONE ate anything! My coworkers appreciated it, though!

[Mikesus]

Too bad you can't clone yourself

[chrisp]

What food did you serve ?

[wading thru the muck!]

Chris,

Do you want Christine to box up the leftovers and send them to you?

My kids took home two boxes of cookies leftover from the AWAKE meeting.

I guess us cpapers just aren't into snacks.

[chrisp]

I'm into snacks , or should I say they're into me. But I'm cutting back so you can have them. Trying to stay on the ol diet er new lifestyle.

[IllinoisRRT]

I had donuts, muffins, and fruit as well as orange juice for the morning people; I had candy for the afternoon people. I was going to get more but I'm kind of glad I didn't because I don't think anyone touched a thing. They weren't the greatest donuts in the world, but boy was I surprised that no one ate them!

[gailzee]

I think that having an open house is an absolutely great idea Is this something in your experience that you have seen, esp. with regard to masks/switching, re-use, etc. Is this what you're finding with your patients? I think this is very important to other DME/RT'ers who monitor this board to have an open dialogue/open house, a mailing, whatever. . If more providers like you had these open houses, it would open up dialogues amongst patients, and providers of equipment) like yourself, so people can agree or learn new technologies, insurance update info, etc. I am going to pass on your idea, if it is okay with you? I think this idea would be a good suggestion that I can inform my DME, in light of the fact as I recently rec'd "patient satisfaction survey" from them.

What is a good policy for masks, try on, sanitary issues at the open house? It seems this is where the biggest complaints start about discomfort, etc.? People can't try on, etc.


Also, what if someone has an ''older'' machine no long being used, but could be ''donated''? I think there should be somehow that those with insurance/payment issues, could obtain some kind of therapy. I think that dme'ers, like yourself are really trying, and it is appreciated. Were these issues or suggestions discussed? . I see a lot of threads on this board about used equipment? Txs.

Thank you for all your replies. About my open house, it went pretty well. Some of my patients hadn't been seen for a LONG time and were glad to replenish their supplies. For a long time, our company hadn't required feedback as far as machine maintenance and all of that on machines that were rented, so we hadn't heard from some people in awhile. So we did run into trouble with people who's insurance had changed in the time since they started, and we were no longer their "preferred provider." So my boss probably gave away several masks (how's that for an evil DME). But it did go better than I thought and I had a really good turnout. And would you believe that I bought all kinds of food and NO ONE ate anything! My coworkers appreciated it, though!

[IllinoisRRT]

About the used/ old machines, I don't really know... I haven't been in the business long enough to see that kind of turnaround. It might be coming up soon, though, because I have a patient with a purchased unit who doesn't use it anymore...I'll have to look into it.
Feel free to use the "CPAP clinic" idea if you like...it's definitely not mine! It was an interesting turnout. Not that we treat our patients differently who have a purchased unit vs. a rental, but we do have to check the rental patients at least every 6 months, which keeps us in much better contact with them. Many of our purchased patients come back for supplies, but not nearly as often as they should/could. I'm really not even familiar with most insurance companies' pay schedules for CPAP equipment, I just know that it varies greatly. Some cover as well as Medicare, some don't cover anything, and some cover part of them after the deductible. As far as trying new masks, I have really been pushing the Medicare patients to try something new with their mask because most of them don't realize that Medicare will cover a new one every 3 months. Most of my people are very set in their ways and keep what they have (and believe it or not, almost all of them are Respironics products- I think it's really interesting that many of you are unhappy with the Respironics masks because most of my patients seem to have really good luck with them!).
What I did with the clinic is have several masks out of the package and let them look at them in person, feel them, try them on, etc. What I did not do was have each one in EACH size. I had a small of one, a medium of another, etc... I also had information sheets on newer masks that I do not currently have in stock. My company is really pushing us not to stock masks that aren't Respironics, but I have occasionally been able to special order certain things for patients who just aren't happy with or can't find a proper Respironics mask.
You mentioned something about starting dialogues between patients...that also came up in my office after the fact (since this was my first clinic it was very much a learning experience). Our customer service person was very bent out of shape that we didn't carry this out in a completely anonymous fashion. I wasn't shouting people's name out into the open, but some people were asking account questions which brings up the whole HIPAA thing. However, my manager brought up the point that our arrangement did kind of encourage people to talk about things, what masks they've had success with, what doctor they like, etc. It was kind of funny too because some patients (mainly men, ahem) who were comparing their pressures, isn't it always a competition??? Anyway, I will do some things differently at my next session but overall it went very well.

[gailzee]

at least it's a good place to start, and helping some of these former patients and providing new services/materials/info is better than nothing. I would thought that the standard once someone has been dx'd with a cpap/apap/whatever 'pap' would be some kind of retesting, or at least those of us with software following our own progress, provide same to the dr. I am not at the 3 mo. point yet. I will bring my data to the dr. but they are so busy, other than knowing an AHI number, I think I have an easier time telling the cpap.msg board.

The only masks my DME brought to show me were the ones I mentioned. No others. I am planning to check with my insurance carrier, re: policy on DME's. Problem with insurance customer service 1-800 numbers anymore is it depends who answers the calls and how they "interpret" an individual's personal policy info. Also my ins. carrier's cust. care line has been outsourced overseas, and it's sometimes quite difficult to understand what they are even interpreting. I don't envy you dealing with the insurance on one side/patient/then DME supplier.

There have been some posts on this board: re: used equipment. I think it'd be a hard situation to administer/selling/buying, warranties. Will equipment be used correctly. etc.

About the used/ old machines, I don't really know... I haven't been in the business long enough to see that kind of turnaround. It might be coming up soon, though, because I have a patient with a purchased unit who doesn't use it anymore...I'll have to look into it.
Feel free to use the "CPAP clinic" idea if you like...it's definitely not mine! It was an interesting turnout. Not that we treat our patients differently who have a purchased unit vs. a rental, but we do have to check the rental patients at least every 6 months, which keeps us in much better contact with them. Many of our purchased patients come back for supplies, but not nearly as often as they should/could. I'm really not even familiar with most insurance companies' pay schedules for CPAP equipment, I just know that it varies greatly. Some cover as well as Medicare, some don't cover anything, and some cover part of them after the deductible. As far as trying new masks, I have really been pushing the Medicare patients to try something new with their mask because most of them don't realize that Medicare will cover a new one every 3 months. Most of my people are very set in their ways and keep what they have (and believe it or not, almost all of them are Respironics products- I think it's really interesting that many of you are unhappy with the Respironics masks because most of my patients seem to have really good luck with them!).
What I did with the clinic is have several masks out of the package and let them look at them in person, feel them, try them on, etc. What I did not do was have each one in EACH size. I had a small of one, a medium of another, etc... I also had information sheets on newer masks that I do not currently have in stock. My company is really pushing us not to stock masks that aren't Respironics, but I have occasionally been able to special order certain things for patients who just aren't happy with or can't find a proper Respironics mask.
You mentioned something about starting dialogues between patients...that also came up in my office after the fact (since this was my first clinic it was very much a learning experience). Our customer service person was very bent out of shape that we didn't carry this out in a completely anonymous fashion. I wasn't shouting people's name out into the open, but some people were asking account questions which brings up the whole HIPAA thing. However, my manager brought up the point that our arrangement did kind of encourage people to talk about things, what masks they've had success with, what doctor they like, etc. It was kind of funny too because some patients (mainly men, ahem) who were comparing their pressures, isn't it always a competition??? Anyway, I will do some things differently at my next session but overall it went very well.