Mask Exchange Policies

chunkyfrog wrote:I think it was a volunteer endeavor.
I believe Pugsy used to collect and forward donated masks;
---but she is gone now.

Janknitz wrote:The policy of the DME about how many times you can swap masks has NOTHING to do with your insurance company or your doctor. The insurance company doesn't pay for more than one mask at a time, and a doctor's prescription is NOT required to swap masks unless your doctor wrote the prescription for a specific mask only. Neither cares how many masks you need to try before finding one that's comfortable.


Manufacturers provide DME's with FREE sample masks for fitting purposes. Manufacturers also credit DME's for returned masks that don't fit or work for the patient, but it requires some paperwork to get the credit. Manufacturers understand that a patient who can't use a mask comfortably is going to fail CPAP, and a repeat customer for life is lost. A relatively small investment in a "free mask" is worth it in the long run.

DME's are the weak point in this system. They get free masks, and sell them, one way or the other. Were you ever given a mask marked "Sample" to "try" and then charged for it? Remember when CPAP.com ran an auction site and some "private sellers' had literally hundreds of brand new masks? This was mostly DME's selling the free samples out the back door. The DME's don't want to do the paperwork to receive credit for a mask that didn't work, so they limit the returns. Some patients do take advantage of the system, but some genuinely need to go through 8 or 10 or 12 different masks until they find THE mask that works for them.

That's why I recommend on my blog that if you have a choice of DME's under your insurance or you are paying out of pocket, you find a DME with a liberal mask return policy. When a DME limits you to 2, what happens if neither works? Most likely you are going to give up on CPAP, a tragedy, IMHO. The DME doesn't care.

MDee wrote:BTW, the local DMEs all said that they could not loan masks for health reasons/communicable diseases. I find it interesting that the policies seem to be regional (other regions in the US allowing loaners).