CPAPtalk.com

harrywr2 wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 19, 2021 9:41 am

. . .
Miraculously . . .

clownbell wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 18, 2021 9:54 pm

Maybe my experience is different from others, but that IS my experience.

I'm curious as to just how your experience helps the OP?

@RockStar - Kaiser is kinda like Baskin Robbins with its 31 flavors. Not only are there different geographic regions for Kaiser, but also different plans within each region. For example, some plans have higher monthly premium and lower copays while other plans have lower monthly premuim and higher copays. I even know of one plan that has super low premiums, super low deductivles, and a VERY large deductible that the patient must pay before the insurance kicks in. In addition, some plans seem to have different exclusions and benefits and provisions than others. My plan happens to be a Senior Advantage plan; perhaps that is different than other plans. Kaiser is not a monolith, and that is what I am pointing out. I don't doubt the experience of others, just saying what mine was.

OP here.

Just to return to my original post of this thread, I finally, yesterday (2021 12 07), received a copy of my prescription for a CPAP machine.

It only took 122 calendar days. And I had to supply Kaiser with a filled-in form requiring only that they sign and date the form.

My primary care physician, who signed the prescription, told me that he was under the impression that the Sleep Medicine physicians would issue the prescription. That turned out not to be the case. The Kaiser Sleep Medicine department did nothing to assist me in getting a prescription.

What finally worked was that I found a sample prescription on ApneaBoard.com, filled it in with the bill of materials provided to me by Kaiser, and put it into shape that all my primary care physician had to do was sign it and date it. Since my previous attempts to communicate with Kaiser via their secure email system had been read but had produced no response, I took to sending an email and sending a duplicate of the email via registered mail, return receipt requested. Something finally got read and evoked a response.

Additionally, I filed a complaint with Kaiser's customer retention desk. I don't know if that helped or not.

Kaiser certainly did not cover itself with glory in this incident.

By the way, the USPostal Service didn't do all that well here, either. Of the registered, return-receipt paper letters I sent, I only got return-receipts back on half of them. For the others, USPS online tracking showed that the return receipts disappeared immediately after they were handed in to and acknowledged by the post office. I'm glad there was online tracking available, otherwise I wouldn't have known that the paper letters were delivered.