Cost of Home Sleep Study?

[Redonthehead]

Wondering if anyone has a recent cost for a home sleep study. I had the impression it would be less than $500, but they billed the insurance $1,382 of which the insurance took their discount down to $953. My HRA was low so they still want me to cough up $639.

I have a faint hope they I was erroneously billed for an in-house hospital sleep study. Will call them tomorrow but thought maybe someone knew what a home sleep study cost.

Thanks

[teleute]

Where are you located? That may make a difference.

[Redonthehead]

Where are you located? That may make a difference.

Missouri, USA.

[HerbM]

I am no expert but found this with a short Google search for

[ what is the cost of a sleep study for sleep apnea ]

"[home sleep studies ]are less than half the price -- up to $400 for a home test, compared with as much as $1,300 in a hospital."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nati ... m/1922335/

USAToday and about a year old so factor in the source and the date.

Good luck and sweet dreams.

[Janknitz]

Like everything else in medical care, the amount charged is the fantasy of the provider. It's a made up number. The actual cost is the price contracted with your insurance carrier. Whatever amount that is, you have to pay your share.

It pays to "shop around". Sometimes you can negotiate an out of pocket cost with the provider that's less than your deductible and/or co-pay. The trick is that it's sometimes hard to find out from your insurer what the negotiated price is beforehand. And it does take some time and chutzpah to ask for a "cash" price.

I've read articles about people who do the footwork and shop around and save a lot. One woman got an MRI for $200 out of pocket--her co-pay using insurance would have been $1,200!

[Sludge]

You can get an HST online using the ApneaLink Plus for $249.

[Sludge]

Watermark ARES goes for $350.

Which device did you use?

[Sunshineisme]

Mine was 500 - I had to pay half out of pocket and then found out the home studies are worthless. Had to have a repeat at the sleep lab where they said it was a shame that doctors order these things. They know they are not good - just making money for themselves.

[ChicagoGranny]

Wondering if anyone has a recent cost for a home sleep study. I had the impression it would be less than $500, but they billed the insurance $1,382 of which the insurance took their discount down to $953. My HRA was low so they still want me to cough up $639.

I have a faint hope they I was erroneously billed for an in-house hospital sleep study. Will call them tomorrow but thought maybe someone knew what a home sleep study cost.

Thanks

You are getting ripped off.

Frustrating question, if people are going to have a bathroom remodeled, they agree on a price before they allow the work to start. Right?

Then why the hell do the same people undertake medical services and wait until after they are done to see what the bill is???????

As Jim might say, "Sheeple!"

ChicagoGramps

[BlackSpinner]

Mine was 500 - I had to pay half out of pocket and then found out the home studies are worthless. Had to have a repeat at the sleep lab where they said it was a shame that doctors order these things. They know they are not good - just making money for themselves.

There are good reasons for home studies, they find most of the plain vanilla OSA. If you screw up putting the stuff on right or you don't have plain vanilla OSA THEN you need a more comprehensive study which makes much more money for the labs.

[Janknitz]

Frustrating question, if people are going to have a bathroom remodeled, they agree on a price before they allow the work to start. Right?

Then why the hell do the same people undertake medical services and wait until after they are done to see what the bill is???????

One of the arguments in the healthcare debate was that we should become more aware consumers on the "healthcare market". How exactly can we do hat when providers can't even tell
Us the true retail price of goods and services. Ever ask a DME what your machine costs?

[BlackSpinner]

Frustrating question, if people are going to have a bathroom remodeled, they agree on a price before they allow the work to start. Right?

Then why the hell do the same people undertake medical services and wait until after they are done to see what the bill is???????

Yes really - for the last 10 years we have had a great TV show by Mike Holmes. He fixes renos gone bad. Quite a few are by people who did their home work, got quotes, read references and still ended up in a disaster.
Medical services? Yes it is really important that when people feel sick and can't think straight that they go and evaluate a service which they know absolutely nothing about and can't judge. How stupid of them to expect quality advice from professionals.

[cmills56]

The actual cost to do a study will vary depending on where you live and the medical network you have the study done through. In general, they can easily range over $1,000. It is crazy how much this stuff costs. The machines aren't much better. I have had trouble with my insurance company covering costs on pieces of the machine that didn't work when I got it in the mail. They often have silly loopholes for things such as this in order to avoid paying as much as possible. It has gotten better over the 3 years I have been using it, but it was a nightmare at first.

[Janknitz]

The actual cost varies hugely and has nothing to do with quality of the service or technology. It's still what's "usual and customary" in the community. In one community the going rate may be $250, in another $2500 for the SAME thing.

[skram]

Wow, things are really quite different depending on where you live.

Here in Nova Scotia, Canada:
- my at home sleep study was free (I think they used the Watermark ARES that Sludge mentions)
- I'm now doing a 4 week trial withe ResMed and trying different mask - cost for this is $100
- they have quoted a purchase price for the S9, Humidifier and Climateline hose as over $2,000. (I see it online for just over $1,000, so double the cost)
- with purchase, they do have free lifetime followup appointments
- they also deal with pre-approval for insurance (although not direct bill, so I have to pay and be reimbursed)

So sounds like they are recouping the sleep study and consulting costs through inflating the equipment price.