Smart Card for REMstar Plus M Series

[Hetron]

I've been using a REMstar Plus M Series for about seven months. The unit has a SmartCard Module. The owners manual says the SmartCard "records device usage information for use by my homer care provider."
What kind of information does this record. My equipment provider has never service the machine or checked the SmartCard.

[sleepycarol]

Unfortunately the only thing your smart card records is the number of hours and days you have used your machine.

No other useful information is recorded.

I think they purposely mislead people when the called the card a "smartcard" since to many people that implies it should record more useful data.

But then again the "plus" machine is a very basic machine and there really isn't anything "plus" about it.

It can provide effective therapy and if you are feeling great -- you have it made -- but if you encounter problems with your therapy you have no useful data to narrow down why you are having problems.

[Wulfman]

I've been using a REMstar Plus M Series for about seven months. The unit has a SmartCard Module. The owners manual says the SmartCard "records device usage information for use by my homer care provider."
What kind of information does this record. My equipment provider has never service the machine or checked the SmartCard.

For that particular machine.....the "Plus".....all that machine will record is the hours of use....."compliance". It doesn't detect or record leaks, snores, apneas, hypopneas, flow limitations or non-responsive events.

For that type of information, you would need the REMstar Pro M Series machine or the REMstar Auto M Series machine.
Your equipment provider was looking out for THEIR profit rather then YOUR therapy benefits.


Den

[Tired & Sleepy]

Hubby & I each picked up our CPAP machines yesterday after 2 weeks of frustration with Drs., sleep lab [well-known hospital in Houston TX suburbs] & the DME provider. DME is like Drs wanting you in/out in 15 min....long enough to get necessary info. We each were prescribed REMstar PLUS M series with "smart" card for compliance for Medicare [although we have Aetna as 1st insurer]. We thought we did research to be a little knowledgeable. I've had a CPAP for @ 8 yrs, this is Hubby's first. The provider is a large publically traded entity. We're very frustrated with DME provider as they are NOT consumer oriented, but dominate the CPAP business in the Houston area as they take most all insurance & Medicare. We're supposed to take our Smart Card back to provider between 31-90 days so Medicare knows machines are being used. We asked if machines had been used & were very reluctantly told they had a "few" hours on them, but were reconditioned/like new. We insisted on new machines, but how can we prove they are new. We asked @ the upgrades with software/etc. & the salespersons all acted like we didn't know what we were talking about. The machines & masks have very strong odor & have to be rinsed/aired out before using. Thank you to this forum for being here. I've learned more about sleep apnea from this forum than any professional/provider. Thanks for letting me vent.

[junie]

I was told that I can use the ENCORE VIEW V1.O SOFTWARE with my machine I haven't bought it yet, do you have C- FLEX also.

[jules]

You can use viewer with a Plus with the card module, but what you get is not worth buying the software, card reader, and dealing with the possible frustration in installing it.

You get COMPLIANCE data - a chart of how many hours each night you used the machine. WOW - you can get that with a piece of paper and a pencil logging in the time you went to bed and got up. It isn't worth the cost of the software. You would get something like this or even less than this as this is from an APAP