DME Pushing for oxygen

Watch out folks !!! DME companies out there are calling all they're cpap and nebulizer pt's trying to capture any oxygen pts, through there free oximetry programs.. What they dont tell you is that they'll try to put anybody on oxygen when most of the time all you need is a simple pressure change ...I know this because a buddy of mine used to work DME for 10 years and told me about these programs all major DME's are running

This is simply not true. I currently work for one of the largest DME companies in the US. We do overnite oximetry to make sure that the pressure is correct on your CPAP or BiPAP, because the results will show if you are still having the sawtooth pattern present that would indicate Sleep Apnea. They only ever suggest an O2 bleed-in (at nite ONLY) if your O2 sats go down in the low 80's, AFTER they have asked the doc if he wants to change the pressure to see if that takes care of the problem.

Concerned citizen wrote:Watch out folks !!! DME companies out there are calling all they're cpap and nebulizer pt's trying to capture any oxygen pts, through there free oximetry programs.. What they dont tell you is that they'll try to put anybody on oxygen when most of the time all you need is a simple pressure change ...I know this because a buddy of mine used to work DME for 10 years and told me about these programs all major DME's are running

They couldn't do it without a prescription from the doctor. But, yeah, there may be some that are trying anything they can to make ends meet right now......and before some sort of proposed "healthcare" bill is enacted.

From:

http://www.hmenews.com/?p=article&id=hm2009119O0WW7

"The bill also squeezes oxygen providers a little tighter. Providers serving beneficiaries at month 27 would be required to continue doing so for the remainder of the reasonable useful lifetime of the equipment (60 months), regardless of the patient's location."


Den

I agree with citizen. I too worked for this nationwide DME. Oximetries ,oximetries, oximetries, week after ,week after ,week. You are expected to produce and convert as many oximetries as possible in efforts to generate extra oxygen census. Lets not be uniformed or uneducated as to how oximeters work.."Sawtooth" you can only see these on EEG channels through a sleep study not an oximeter..Oximteries only show desats..Please don't buy into your companies sales directors gimmicks to push up your sales through pushy bi-tri-weekly sales calls. Sales directors for these big DME's are part of the reason we are in this universal health dilema. Let the doctors diagnose and treat..not your sales force. How many people in your sales force actually hold any degrees in nursing, sleep or respiratory, or do they only hold buisness degree? If at least 1/3 were educated in these areas ,they would not be doing this diservice.

THANK YOU, RRTRPSGT!!!