Terminology and and resources

What does DME and AHI mean? I'm gathering from some of the comments that DME is the place where you get your equipment, but I don't know what it stands for.

I had my study at a hopsital and they sent to to a place to get my equipment. I had to wait four weeks for an appointment. That was in May.

I did not learn until a couple of days ago that there are CPAP places all over town and the one I am going to is owned by the hospital that did my study. I do not feel like I got acceptable service from them - it was always rush me in and rush me out and if I needed help with anything I had to make an appointment which usually took several days.

Many commonly used acronyms here..wiki/index.php/Category:CPAP_Definitions including AHI

DME Durable Medical Equipment usually we use this in reference to the brick and mortar store who supplies the cpap machine and equipment.

cherylann wrote:What does DME and AHI mean? I'm gathering from some of the comments that DME is the place where you get your equipment, but I don't know what it stands for.

I had my study at a hopsital and they sent to to a place to get my equipment. I had to wait four weeks for an appointment. That was in May.

I did not learn until a couple of days ago that there are CPAP places all over town and the one I am going to is owned by the hospital that did my study. I do not feel like I got acceptable service from them - it was always rush me in and rush me out and if I needed help with anything I had to make an appointment which usually took several days.

Go to the top of this page and click on the CPAP WIKI lightbulb...Most of your questions will be answered.

cherylann wrote:What does DME and AHI mean? I'm gathering from some of the comments that DME is the place where you get your equipment, but I don't know what it stands for.

I had my study at a hopsital and they sent to to a place to get my equipment. I had to wait four weeks for an appointment. That was in May.

I did not learn until a couple of days ago that there are CPAP places all over town and the one I am going to is owned by the hospital that did my study. I do not feel like I got acceptable service from them - it was always rush me in and rush me out and if I needed help with anything I had to make an appointment which usually took several days.

Depending on your insurance - that maybe the only one they accept. And the service you got was ....... very good.....

Read, read and read some more.....not only the cpap wiki, but new users, what a newby should know...etc. Just keep on reading and you will start to get your education on this therapy. By the way, WELCOME to the land of hoseheads. If I had know what I know now, I would have done things soooo much diferently.

On your equipment.... you say you picked the closest thing you could find..... hmmmm, so does that mean you don't KNOW for a fact your have an Autoset? It should say it right on the top of the machine. Look and let us know.

Emilia wrote:On your equipment.... you say you picked the closest thing you could find..... hmmmm, so does that mean you don't KNOW for a fact your have an Autoset? It should say it right on the top of the machine. Look and let us know.

This is funny. For some reason, people can't see the "AutoSet" on the S9 machine. There have been several different people who have looked for it, but didn't see it until I said, "look right next to the on/off button."

cherylann wrote:What does DME and AHI mean? I'm gathering from some of the comments that DME is the place where you get your equipment, but I don't know what it stands for.

DME = Durable Medical Equipment provider

AHI = Apnea-Hypopnea Index = the average number of apneas and hypopneas you had per hour of sleep on your diagnostic study (for diagnosing your sleep apnea). AHI = the average number of apneas and hypopneas detected by full data machines either during one night of use or several nights of use. Ideally you want your AHI under treatment to be less than 5.

For more details about how your diagnostic numbers were computed, see Understanding the data in your sleep test report. The CPAP machine numbers are computed in a similar fashion, but there's no EEG (obviously) to tell when you are asleep. So:

Machine scored AHI = (number of detected apneas + hypopneas)/(time machine was running measured in hours)

So if your S9 AutoSet detects a total of 23 apneas and hypopneas during 6.9 hours of use, the machine's computed AHI will be computed as:

AHI = 23/6.9 = 3.3 (machines either round or truncate the numbers to one decimal place)

Note that this does NOT mean that you had 3.3 apneas and hypopneas each and every hour. You may well have had a whole bunch of them in one or two hours of sleep and also had no or very few in the rest of your sleep that night. The only way to tell the actual distribution of the events is to look at the data on a computer using ResScan since you've got a Resmed S9.

I had my study at a hopsital and they sent to to a place to get my equipment. I had to wait four weeks for an appointment. That was in May.

I did not learn until a couple of days ago that there are CPAP places all over town and the one I am going to is owned by the hospital that did my study. I do not feel like I got acceptable service from them - it was always rush me in and rush me out and if I needed help with anything I had to make an appointment which usually took several days.

If you are unhappy with your DME for whatever reason, the first thing you need to do is call your insurance company and talk to them about whether they care which DME you use. Some insurance companies do care and some don't. If your insurance company distinguishes between in network and out of network DMEs, ask the insurance company to provide you with a list of in network DMEs. If you locate a DME you like, specifically ask about that particular DME.

If there is more than one DME that your insurance company is willing to work with, start interviewing DME's and make them earn your business. Before terminating your relationship with your current DME, locate another acceptable one. And be sure to explain (possibly in writing) exactly why you are SWITCHING DMEs. Do NOT sign any paperwork saying that you are declining treatment because that's not at all what you're doing when you switch DMEs.