Amazing story with APRIA while CPAP in service Please READ!

bdp522 · Post by **bdp522** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 6:48 am

Any of the larger insurance companies that use Apria exclusively have an Apria Rep in the office with them. Call your insurance and ask for the department that oversees Durable Medical Equipment. Once you get to the correct department, ask to speak to the Apria Rep. Explain your problem and ask for a number to file a complaint against your local branch(or whatever branch you are having a problem with). Then file the complaint over the phone. They do seem to take these complaints seriously, and my problems have been resolved within an hour or 2 once filing the complaint.
Be sure to write down all phone numbers and names of who you speak to. You will need this info again!
While on the phone with the insurance, be sure to tell them that you are being non compliant due to the fact that Apria did not supply the needed parts for your machine.

Brenda

BarryKaraoke · Post by **BarryKaraoke** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:19 am

Wow...what a runaround!

For what it's worth, I use Apria here in NY and have had great service from day one. It must vary widely from branch to branch.

Are these branches franchise-like or company run?

jsmythe · Post by **jsmythe** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:26 am

bdp522 wrote:Any of the larger insurance companies that use Apria exclusively have an Apria Rep in the office with them. Call your insurance and ask for the department that oversees Durable Medical Equipment. Once you get to the correct department, ask to speak to the Apria Rep. Explain your problem and ask for a number to file a complaint against your local branch(or whatever branch you are having a problem with). Then file the complaint over the phone. They do seem to take these complaints seriously, and my problems have been resolved within an hour or 2 once filing the complaint.
Be sure to write down all phone numbers and names of who you speak to. You will need this info again!
While on the phone with the insurance, be sure to tell them that you are being non compliant due to the fact that Apria did not supply the needed parts for your machine.

Brenda

Thank you Brenda, this is an absoulutly great idea!! I never knew that Ins. comp. had Reps in their offices. This has helped me and I certainly hope it helps pcisuser. And writing down names and number is extremly important. I found this out when I was in Apria office. When I told them I spoke to my insurace company, the first thing they asked was "who did I speak with?". Luckily, I wrote down the persons name.

Needsdecaf · Post by **Needsdecaf** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 10:56 am

BarryKaraoke wrote:Wow...what a runaround!

For what it's worth, I use Apria here in NY and have had great service from day one. It must vary widely from branch to branch.

Are these branches franchise-like or company run?

I use them too. No problems either. Have you dealt with Kingston or Elmsford? I dealt with Kingston.

BarryKaraoke · Post by **BarryKaraoke** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 11:37 am

Needsdecaf wrote:
BarryKaraoke wrote:Wow...what a runaround!

For what it's worth, I use Apria here in NY and have had great service from day one. It must vary widely from branch to branch.

Are these branches franchise-like or company run?
I use them too. No problems either. Have you dealt with Kingston or Elmsford? I dealt with Kingston.

Kingston. A bit of a drive, but worth the effort.

I started with "Respiratory Specialists" in Brewster and WOW...what a "boiler room" operation that was. Even now, I am learning that these clowns charged my insurance (as a purchase) for my original humidifier. I now know this is standard, however this is the same humidifier they insisted I return to them with the machine when I ditched them for Apria. Needless to say, I am filing a complaint with my insurance company!

snoregirl · Post by **snoregirl** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 12:27 pm

Kingston huh?

That was where I started. Set my machine up wrongly. Tried to not give me the white filter, tried to tell me that "no one uses that". Set it on split night, ran it without the hose attached and on and on. Return phone calls? Of course not.

Must be a different Kingston NY. I took the machine, found a manual and ran like hell.

Shellie_p · Post by **Shellie_p** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 1:17 pm

Wow I have used Apria for 3-4 years now and not had any problems. In fact they went above and beyond to try to get me a replacement machine. Was diagnosed in 1995 and got a cpap and humidifier and mask from the DME that the hospital used at the time. I can't recall the cpap I had the first time but it was a respitronics, anyhow it just up and died on me one day 4 years ago(On a friday).

So I had to call my insurance to find out who they used and they told me Apria. So I called them. Explained to them that my cpap had died and that insurance said to call them. After a short quiz on the phone the lady I spoke to said since they did not have a sleep test on file for me they had to call my Dr. and would call me back that day. She did call back like 2 hours later but much to my dismay the Dr. REFUSED to approve me a new CPAP.

Talk about angry. I had been telling this guy for several months I hadn't had a new sleep study since 95 and he kept saying they would arrange it. Well they NEVER did. (This caused me to search out a new doc.) Since he wouldn't write the script for it, the lady from Apria said if they could get a copy of my original sleep test results that they could work with that. So after a ton of calling I tracked down who to call to fax the records to Apria.
That took longer then anything else but they did fax the records and Apria had me a new CPAP the next buisness day.

The only gripe i had was because of the weekend I had to go 4 days without my CPAP and I have severe apnea.
They even had a tech bring it out on his way home, it was like 7pm when he showed up. But boy I was gratefull.

He showed me how to set the machine up and even brought me a new mask/headgear etc. I was kind of antsy to get to sleep but he was pretty patient with me and made sure I knew what I needed to to use the machine (my old one had NO electronics)

Recently I had trouble with my mask leaking so I called them and told them that the mask style I had kept breaking and nothing I did kept it from leaking so they asked was it an emergency or could I set an appointment. I made the apointment.
I gotta say Dottie the lady that helped me was awesome. I explained to her what was going on. And how the last 3 masks I had all broke in the same spots and she brought out a couple to try. Well she noticed that they didn't fit properly so she measured me. And wouldn't you know my face had changed enough in the last 13 years a medium mask was to big.
She set me up with fisher & pakyel 407 and it is so much nicer for me then any of the respitronics masks I had over the years.

The only real downside I have with them is they aren't located in my city so its a 20-30 minute drive to get to them. Which was more of an annoyance then a real problem honestly.
I have more of an issue with the fact that I cannot seem to find a doctor that takes my insurance that will actually take my sleep apnea seriously.

Right now I'm having to fight with my doc to get a dang humidifier. I mean come on I have the machine already Apria has the sleep test results but my current doc thinks that humidifying the room should be enough. But Apria needs a perscription for it. And the doc refuses to write it. Geeze.

BarryKaraoke · Post by **BarryKaraoke** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 1:54 pm

snoregirl wrote:Must be a different Kingston NY. I took the machine, found a manual and ran like hell.

Same Kingston, but I have had no major problems like that! Maybe they have had some personnel changes? The guy who setup my machine did say he had only been there a few weeks (this was in January).

That being said when they gave me the carry case, both of the zippered internal pouches for the machine & humidifier were missing. Of course being a newb, I didn't know they were supposed to be there until later.

alnhwrd · Post by **alnhwrd** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 2:37 pm

Shellie, you can buy a stand alone humidifier without a prescription from cpap.com

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/fisher ... ifier.html

I don't have one myself but I have read tons of posts from people who just love this humidifier. You only need a prescription for a CPAP machine.

Regina35 · Post by **Regina35** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 10:53 pm

Wow, this is scary. My Kaiser plan does not cover me getting a machine so I'm on a trial one right now. I tried calling Apria to get more info on purchasing one myself and I was thoroughly disgusted by the phone call. I felt as if I was talking to a moron. She could not answer my questions and I just hung up saying I call back later. I am still so new at all this that I have no clue what kind of machine to buy much less what type of mask to use. I have been using the Mirage Swift II nasal pillows, but they constatnly move and I end up taking the mask off. I am going to try another mask given to me by Kaiser to see if that one works better, not sure of the name. I REALLY hope this gets better because I feel SO lost and don't have time to really read up on all this. I wish I could just set up an appointment with a person who can show me how to correctly use all this stuff. Does that even exist with Apria? I live in the Bay Area, CA.

Doovid · Post by **Doovid** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 1:07 am

Just to provide my experiences in dealying with Apria....I live in Virginia and have used Apria for several years. I would have to say that they've done a decent job of accommodating me, but none of the agents have been very knowledgeable of equipment or the total supplies out there. I'd rate them overall at a 6 out of possible 10.

As far as the use of filters, the agent only inserted the black filter into the machine, and was surprised that I was aware of there being a white, fine filter available. (We found it in a plastic bag in the carry case.)

I just recently switched to an auto CPAP and had to go to their office to pickup the machine. The person there was very friendly but was not that knowledgeable of all the features that the machine had; he admitted to not reading the manual! But, since I had already read the manual from downloading off the internet, I knew more about the machine than he did.... I was also told that they dealt pretty exclusively with Respironics equipment. Anything else was a special order. They didn't have an other manufacturer's mask on display, which was a big disadvanyage to patients, in my opinion. Luckily I was interested in the Respiroincs Auto w/A-Flex, so no problem there.

There a few other companies available in my area, but they seem worse than Apria, considering knowledge of equipment, insurance interface,un-returned phone calls, etc. So it seems that I maybe much better off dealing with Apria than other users in this group.

stevoreno · Post by **stevoreno** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 2:35 am

[quote="Regina35"]Wow, this is scary. My Kaiser plan does not cover me getting a machine so I'm on a trial one right now. I tried calling Apria to get more info on purchasing one myself and I was thoroughly disgusted by the phone call. I felt as if I was talking to a moron. She could not answer my questions and I just hung up saying I call back later. I am still so new at all this that I have no clue what kind of machine to buy much less what type of mask to use. I have been using the Mirage Swift II nasal pillows, but they constatnly move and I end up taking the mask off. I am going to try another mask given to me by Kaiser to see if that one works better, not sure of the name. I REALLY hope this gets better because I feel SO lost and don't have time to really read up on all this. I wish I could just set up an appointment with a person who can show me how to correctly use all this stuff. Does that even exist with Apria? I live in the Bay Area, CA.

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:26 am

Its always a good idea to keep a record of the serial number on your CPAP - and even your humidifier. That way, IF it does have to "go in for repair" or replacement, you can check the serial number when you get it "back" and KNOW if it is yours or not, or if it is new - and checking total hours on the CPAP verifies if it is NEW or USED.

wintersweet · Post by **wintersweet** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:27 am

Apria, at least in Northern California, is just absolutely awful. If you can use ANYONE else, please do! No attention to patients, no advice, no service, no apologies--and the office I usually have to go to is just a pit. The one time they did bother fitting me for something, it took a total of about 3 seconds of attention from them. Bleh. I was prescribed a new mask recently (which I'll be asking for help regarding in a bit here). It took forever to get the information accepted by them, and finally, they shipped out ... another one of my old mask. Getting that straightened out took forever, and I finally got the new mask. They claim they won't bill my insurance for the old mask, but I'm not counting on it. They billed things incorrectly when I was first diagnosed with sleep apnea, costing me hundreds of dollars (but I was still too tired (at the time) to fight it!).

I've been asked by two different sets of doctors at two different reputable sleep centers "Who does your insurance use for DME?" In both cases, I said "Apria." In both cases, the doctors visibly winced or grimaced. Boy, that made me feel good about it!

stevoreno · Post by **stevoreno** » Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:24 pm

[quote="Slinky"]Its always a good idea to keep a record of the serial number on your CPAP - and even your humidifier. That way, IF it does have to "go in for repair" or replacement, you can check the serial number when you get it "back" and KNOW if it is yours or not, or if it is new - and checking total hours on the CPAP verifies if it is NEW or USED.

Mask	Humidifier