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PollyCT wrote:My plan of attack with the DMEs was to avoid them altogether. My doc sent my prescription to a DME, but I had her recall it and send it to cpap.com. I then bought direct from cpap, and came to this forum for advice on how to get started on my own.

Is this route for everyone? Absolutely not. I'm very fortunate in that I could just buy the machine and submit for out-of-network billing later. So why go this route? Because life is short, and I have no desire to spend my time on the phone with arguing with people who hold the high card.

That said, I've read some postings by people who did well with their DME, so maybe you'll be one of the lucky ones!

Good luck!

That's essentially what I did, too. Only difference is that my insurance provider considered me to be "in-network" and after I billed them (using the same information on the invoice I got from CPAP.COM), they reimbursed me at the 80% rate. We both saved money and I believe I saved myself the headaches of having to deal with a local DME.


Den

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I'm in a select group, as I have had few issues w Apria since I began this xpappain journey in 05.

Fast forward some, since Apria went centralized, and made it difficult to deal w the local vendor, they have been less responsive.

That said, I have been generally satisfied, and in the early going (say 05 to 2010ish), I received memorably great service and excellent advice.

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chunkyfrog wrote:Deductibles and copays are often considerably more out of network.

As I've gotten older I just give a $50/hour rule to my time..... so if I can save $20 but spend an hour on the phone.... not worth it.

If I can fix the dryer belt in under an hour.... ($30 part) saving a $180 service charge.... heck ya it is worth it.

With Apria I'm better off pounding my head against the wall. At least when I stop doing that the pain goes away.

My first transaction 6 years ago was with Apria....I have never been back.

chunkyfrog wrote:Deductibles and copays are often considerably more out of network.

Deductibles are usually the same, but the copay is often double for out of network. As Polly said, it's not for everyone, but then again, she owns her machine and equipment and is not waiting still to find out what will be dispensed when they finally get all the approvals complete, and she is not subject to compliance monitoring and other aggravations. This is my approach as well. The idea of having to go to a RT for an appointment to be fitted for a mask that comes from the manufacturer with all sizes of pillows seems absurd, but many DMEs will not dispense a mask unless you have a direct home or office encounter with a RT, and that becomes part of the cost.

Sleeprider wrote:

chunkyfrog wrote:Deductibles and copays are often considerably more out of network.

Deductibles are usually the same, but the copay is often double for out of network.

*HAH*

Yeah, I was tempted. With BCBSNE both were exactly DOUBLE!
But everyone's plan is different. In our county employees plan,
the only economical time to use the DME was in the first year, when the machine was bought.

TexasTom wrote:When I picked up my machine Apria couldn't give me a straight answer "Is this a purchase or a lease?" They use only one form, no pricing nor details. No visit with a respiratory therapist, just the machine and a DVD and "here you go". Mask harness was too small for my head (crushed the nasal piece into my face -- no leaks, but one very sore nose!). Nothing about an option to swap headgear within 30 days (my sleep disorder Doc told me about that later).

My insurance carrier has a "Sleep Division" and they called to ask why I didn't send back the SD Card? What? Never got a letter, nor SD card, so they will send another.

Seems Cigna contracts two periods of three months. Basically machine is leased for three months, once they get the card they will authorize another three months. When the second card is sent back, machine is paid off and owner is free to keep. OK, so that makes a little more sense. They wanted to see 70% compliance on usage.

Had a good talk with the lady at Cigna about how bad Apria is to deal with. Thankfully they are bringing another DME online as I'm not the only person complaining. So once the six months is over, I can specify who I want as DME.

APRIA SUCKS.... just avoid them. Had it not been for the folks at Cigna calling me to pick up the machine, I would have never known it was ready to pick up.

Pray it is not Gentiva CareCentrix, as I have had nothing but issues with them. Past due notices for bills paid on time, trying to bill for more than insurance contracted price, out of order rental/purchase billing of varying amounts (January before November), completely inconsistent responses from reps, requesting my credit card when calling (which they are not prying from my wallet), the list goes on. They managed to send another patient's bills to my address and gave their disconnected phone number to my account. The odd thing is the other patient lives a few miles away.

Since my employer self insures, it is convoluted, with the benefits administered by a contracted outside company, which then contracts the network to Cigna. Then the local Cigna listed DME (part of the sleep physician's group) contracts billing to CareCentrix. So many layers, with higher prices in the end.

As an aside, the local DME told me I could not touch the SD card, which I politely ignored. Cannot wait for my followup visit later this year when they see the FlashAir card in its place!

I just order supplies out of pocket, deciding I would rather give the funds to decent vendors, even if it may cost me (slightly, if that) more in the end as my deductible is met. There is a price for my patience and time.

I am a former Apria employee, CPAP user and a credentialed respiratory therapist. When I first started at Apria the service seemed to be pretty good. I would regularly go to people's houses to set up their PAP device and fit them with a mask. A would take the time to teach them how to use it and put on the mask. Then they got bought out by the corporate douche bags known as Blackstone. They started offshoring departments and made it so nobody would call their local branch directly. You have to go through a centralized call center and speak to someone off the street who doesn't have any training and maybe made $12/hr. You get what you pay for. They stopped allowing us to do in home visits unless you had prior approval from a branch manager. Unless you're home bound you will not be getting an in home visit. You will have to travel to your local branch regardless of the distance. At the end of my time there it got to the point where all they (Apria) wanted me to do is hand someone a machine with an instruction booklet and a DVD. As someone who prides myself on my skills as a clinician this really made me mad. Apria does not give a hoot about patient care. Shareholder profits are the ONLY concern. Run away as fast as you can.

Chico77 wrote:I am a former Apria employee, CPAP user and a credentialed respiratory therapist. When I first started at Apria the service seemed to be pretty good. I would regularly go to people's houses to set up their PAP device and fit them with a mask. A would take the time to teach them how to use it and put on the mask. Then they got bought out by the corporate douche bags known as Blackstone. They started offshoring departments and made it so nobody would call their local branch directly. You have to go through a centralized call center and speak to someone off the street who doesn't have any training and maybe made $12/hr. You get what you pay for. They stopped allowing us to do in home visits unless you had prior approval from a branch manager. Unless you're home bound you will not be getting an in home visit. You will have to travel to your local branch regardless of the distance. At the end of my time there it got to the point where all they (Apria) wanted me to do is hand someone a machine with an instruction booklet and a DVD. As someone who prides myself on my skills as a clinician this really made me mad. Apria does not give a hoot about patient care. Shareholder profits are the ONLY concern. Run away as fast as you can.

Welcome to the forum.
You're not the first "former" Crapria employee to tell us those stories.
Their reputation on the forum has been very bad for as long as I've been here (early 2005) and it got worse after their acquisition by The Blackstone Group.

Reputation-wise, Lindontcare runs a close second.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blackstone_Group


Den

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I actually love Apria! I had them for a long time then changed to another company last December to get a new machine thru a new doctor. Recently just switched BACK to Apria! Love them. Never had a problem with anything. Are you guys calling them at the 800 number? I use 800-310-3363. I always get what I need from them.

sleeplessinaz wrote:I actually love Apria! I had them for a long time then changed to another company last December to get a new machine thru a new doctor. Recently just switched BACK to Apria! Love them. Never had a problem with anything. Are you guys calling them at the 800 number? I use 800-310-3363. I always get what I need from them.

Your experience does not seem to be the norm (though it may be that people who are satisfied with them don't post). In my experience, every order had something wrong (they deliberately swapped out supplies specifically requested by my HMO!) with cheaper versions, or got it wrong altogether) and I've never had a correct bill from them.

For the short time I did business with them, the local office was staffed with decent people.
Then the 800 clusterfrank started and they demanded a new cc#, even though my insurance
paid EVERYTHING--meaning NO NEED for the credit card.
(My debit card had been compromised, so it was changed, thus they could NOT fraudulently use the one they had.)

I politely asked for my files, so I could change to the current DME.

Wulfman... wrote:

Chico77 wrote:I am a former Apria employee, CPAP user and a credentialed respiratory therapist. When I first started at Apria the service seemed to be pretty good. I would regularly go to people's houses to set up their PAP device and fit them with a mask. A would take the time to teach them how to use it and put on the mask. Then they got bought out by the corporate douche bags known as Blackstone. They started offshoring departments and made it so nobody would call their local branch directly. You have to go through a centralized call center and speak to someone off the street who doesn't have any training and maybe made $12/hr. You get what you pay for. They stopped allowing us to do in home visits unless you had prior approval from a branch manager. Unless you're home bound you will not be getting an in home visit. You will have to travel to your local branch regardless of the distance. At the end of my time there it got to the point where all they (Apria) wanted me to do is hand someone a machine with an instruction booklet and a DVD. As someone who prides myself on my skills as a clinician this really made me mad. Apria does not give a hoot about patient care. Shareholder profits are the ONLY concern. Run away as fast as you can.

Welcome to the forum.
You're not the first "former" Crapria employee to tell us those stories.
Their reputation on the forum has been very bad for as long as I've been here (early 2005) and it got worse after their acquisition by The Blackstone Group.

Reputation-wise, Lindontcare runs a close second.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blackstone_Group


Den

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I wasn't aware of the purchase by Blackstone. But I never noticed any difference in service from Crapria. It was Sh*tty from the very first moment and all the way to now. Crapria already had atrocious customer care honed to a fine art all by themselves.

I have Cigna Insurance, who is soon to be purchased themselves by "ANTHEM", another outfit that is supposed to be horrible. So I will probably go from bad to worse. Cigna currently contracts with CareCentrex, who sub-contracts other DME companies, including Crapria. I hate dealing with any of them.

I have a six year old APAP from Crapria and STILL don't own the thing. I was initially told that it was 12 month rent to own machine. I was given the out dated brick Mseries. When my 12 month period ended I was told oops, you don't own this, we made a mistake. Your insurance company says that its OURS and that you're just using it. You never own it. I called the insurance and yes, it was true. (thanks, Crapria, for letting me know AFTER you got all my money) In addition to that, I'm also paying a maintenance fee every 6 months on the dang thing.
I no longer get supplies from them because they'd send me the wrong supplies and then expect ME to bring them back to the company. After many phone calls the bill would be corrected and I'd finally get my new/correct supplies. I found out later that the insurance company still got charged for those incorredt/additional supplies. They wound up paying for many many extra/ wrong supplies. It took forever to get my debit card deleted off of Crapria's records. I also had to yell at them to stop calling me at work.NO I DID NOT WANT MORE SUPPLIES!
If anyone asks me about Apria, I'd say run the other way. Find a different DME if you can.
I'd switch and buy a new machine if I could. We have the same insurance we had before, but it's now a high deductible. I have a $3000 deductible so anything I buy is pretty much out of pocket. When this machine dies, I'll probably wind up with the exact same one as a hand me down from my step dad. At least I'll still have a PAP!