Machine Replacement Guidelines

The question of machine replacement has come up many times. Many insurance companies follow the Medicare Guidelines on machine replacement....it is not necessarily a given that you are entitled to a replacement at 5 years. http://www.resmed.com/us/dam/documents/ ... achine.pdf

According to my new DME, if your machine has reached 15,000 hours, there is not going to be a problem replacing it. Medicare doesn't want to be endlessly replacing machines for people who don't use them - some folks were turning in machines that only had 1000 hours on them, but had them for 5 years. I guess that is what drove this change.

The supplier must replace the equipment free of
charge if it does not last the full five-year period (ie, is
no longer serviceable or needs substantial repairs). If
it is determined that the item is unable to last for the
entire five-year RUL based upon accumulated repair
costs (those repair costs exceeding 60% of the cost to
replace), the supplier must replace the equipment with
properly working equipment at no charge.
Replacement equipment does not need to be new.

What I find interesting on that link though is that Medicare essentially requires an extended warranty through 5 years with some restrictions. Maybe I'm misreading that, but that would be good to know.

I calculated that 15,00 hours is slightly more than five years of use, based on sleeping eight hours per night. Based on seven hours of sleep, it's a little short of six years.

Some of the older machines only record blower time, but most newer ones track actual use.