Any way to avoid Apria Healthcare through HMO?

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
zoglog
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Mar 09, 2017 3:57 pm

Any way to avoid Apria Healthcare through HMO?

Post by zoglog » Thu Mar 09, 2017 4:16 pm

I've been using a CPAP for 3 years now and had to endure the crap that is Apria healthcare just to get insurance to cover part of the cost of supplies.

1) They NEVER provide an invoice in a timely manner. My FSA always flags it so it requires an invoice. I don't quite blame them considering their overbilling practices.
2) Apria submitted my last order under the wrong insurance code twice. This was LAST october and I only found out about it when they decided to tack on $200+ to my last bill. To this day I have not received a single piece of notification about this. I only figured this out after dealing with customer support who was USELESS. In fact my HMO was the one who fixed everything.

3) The price of my supplies magically increased 3x since my last order without any explanation.

I swear, these people are allowed to operate this way simply because they have a monopoly. Is there any way I can get my equipment with insurance without dealing with these crooks. Also is there anywhere I can submit a complaint that might actually do some good. I imagine submitting to the BBB is useless since they don't have to really care about customer satisfaction. Sorry for the rant but I am just sick of their crap.

I am wondering if it's even possible to get re-assigned to a new provider for these via Anthem Bluecross HMO.

edit:
If anyone knows of any good DME or provider in the socal area I can check it against the list Anthem provided to me

User avatar
DxRxTx
Posts: 41
Joined: Thu Jun 04, 2015 9:46 am
Location: California

Re: Any way to avoid Apria Healthcare through HMO?

Post by DxRxTx » Thu Mar 09, 2017 4:41 pm

My HMO, Kaiser Permanete of Northern California uses Apria. The only problem I had with Apria was getting the machine in my hands. They kept flubbing the delivery date and requested that I go to them instead of they deliver to me. Other than that, no problems with reorder. Apria has a dedicated phone line with Kaiser. There are no billing problems. In fact, when I was on MediCal through Kaiser, Apria was more than helpful to inform me of of all the supplies at no cost that were available to me!

_________________
Mask: Ultra Mirage™ Full Face CPAP Mask with Headgear
Additional Comments: My BiPAP is so old it's not listed: PR System One 50 BiPAP Auto

GPLarge
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Jan 18, 2015 9:36 pm

Re: Any way to avoid Apria Healthcare through HMO?

Post by GPLarge » Thu Mar 09, 2017 4:51 pm

Not sure on this. I would check with the HMO. Let them know your issues with Apria. Provide documentation on the over billing. If they see the issue they may look at other patients to see if there is a pattern and pull the approval to use Apria. I just left them after a year for many reasons but customer (dis)service being the primary one. I am lucky that I have multiple choices for DME and my sleep doc has an RT in office and I can get my supplies from them.

User avatar
mike1953
Posts: 154
Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2014 7:15 pm
Location: Kansas

Re: Any way to avoid Apria Healthcare through HMO?

Post by mike1953 » Thu Mar 09, 2017 5:38 pm

The logical thing to do is call your insurance company. They are the only ones that know the definitive answer.

_________________
Mask: AirFit™ P10 Nasal Pillow CPAP Mask with Headgear
Humidifier: S9™ Series H5i™ Heated Humidifier with Climate Control
Additional Comments: Using a Buckwheat pillow its great

Guest

Re: Any way to avoid Apria Healthcare through HMO?

Post by Guest » Thu Mar 09, 2017 6:17 pm

mike1953 wrote:The logical thing to do is call your insurance company. They are the only ones that know the definitive answer.
+ + + + 1 1 1 1
zoglog wrote:I am wondering if it's even possible to get re-assigned to a new provider for these via Anthem Bluecross HMO.
You need to find out if your insurance considers anyone else to be "In Network Provider" meaning they have agreements with the.

Also file complaints with your insurance and some states have Dept of Consumer Protection and Insurance Commission who may also accept complaints. They may also be licensed with the Health Dept.

amenite
Posts: 501
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:02 pm

Re: Any way to avoid Apria Healthcare through HMO?

Post by amenite » Thu Mar 09, 2017 6:20 pm

The first (and only) DME I ever used had similar shortcomings. Billing errors, extreme lag in invoices, invoices with no date on them marked "due immediately" and other shenanigans. I left them and went on my own because I could. I later found out they were acquired by Apria. So if Apria has been on an expansion tear recently perhaps they acquired some of these practices along with their acquisitions. For me, playing the medical equipment billing police got tired real fast. Glad I was able to bail on that mess.