DME costs

2 listless,

I agree with you, entirely your choice. And you feel better off doing it your way even if it cost your more out of your pocket.

The fact of the matter is you cant blame a provider, the little guys that are DEMANDED to stock 50 machines on their shelves just so that they have the specific one you request... or the 200 masks in every size just so that you get it instantly, in your specific size. These are mostly mom and pop (remember those?) businesses that are also providing : Oxygen, wheelchairs, walkers, commodes, nebulizers, beds, tanks, crutches, canes, raised toilet seats, shower chairs, glucometers, strips, tens units, ems units, braces, supports cushions, wedges, 50 PSI compressors, suction pumps, alternating pressure pad, low air loss mattresses, conserving devices, power wheelchairs, scooters and maybe lift chairs.

God forbid, they cant drop every little thing they are DEMANDED of and run over to your place to swap out your machine that may or may not actually have a problem.

Remember to those mom and pops, how they went out of business when walmart came to town? Why?

Was it because walmart had an unfair purchasing power that drove customers away from them?

Why doesnt walmart sell cpaps? They sell lift chairs, commodes, walkers, shower chairs, scooters, braces and glocometers. So why not cpaps? Could it be more work then they are interested in?

Dear anonymous guest,
Please read my response under IT's D_DAY. Maybe it will help you understand the real issue. It is not a personal attack on you. I do not know you.

Thank you for your post, I read it and think you are very accurate and kind in expressing your opionion.

I also want to acknowledge to anyone that has read my posts my brash sense of humor. Im currently on my 16 hour of an 8 hour paid workday trying to accomidate a cpap customer that had special DEMANDS.

That doesnt excuse the few names that slipped in my typing. I dont edit my posts unfortunately so whoever felt I called them idiota or anything else please be assured, its not personal.

I obviously could be expending my energy in many other types of businesses and I chose DME, my writing style reflects my frustration of doing so much, and yet getting slammed for it, nevermind being called EVIL.

My intention is not to upset the owner of this site, I know everyone appreciates this forum and I would understand if my posts get deleted, but to share the other perspective of this equation. Perhaps between two parties that understand what each is working with, can reach an accord that is mutually beneficial.

And I am trying to be more positive in my other post to a member that was looking for advice on how to deal with her DME company in advance. I think she will be satisfied with the outcome if she follows my suggestion.

Sorry to anyone who was offended, that isnt my intention. I would register here if I didnt feel that I vented just a little too much and would embarass the company I work for. I hope that we can continue to discuss the issues, and offer solutions without bashing each other and going in a completely different direction.

I also hope that Johnny (or whoever owns this site) doesnt have a difficult time when he has to raise prices because of the industry itself. I am not someone that knows him or this particular company or site, but I also would not want people to forget what he has done for you when he cant do the same anymore.

Sorry guys I gotta go here one more time.

Guest Said...."also hope that Johnny (or whoever owns this site) doesnt have a difficult time when he has to raise prices because of the industry itself. I am not someone that knows him or this particular company or site, but I also would not want people to forget what he has done for you when he cant do the same anymore "

So are you saying that the DME industry and the Manufacturers have conspired to "FIX" Prices ?

Isn't that illegal ?

Guest,

Youi don't have to embarrass your employer by registering with the site. How would we know? You will have a handle. You don't think my given name is rock and roll? We certainly would repect you more. Posting as a guest gives you the impression of hiding. I welcome you to the site if you want to participate as a member. You can give us new insites. But please remember, if we had gotton good care from our DME's, we most likely would not have gone to the internet in the first place. I may be demanding, I may be ppicky, but I deserve to be after your getting $2400 for something I could have bought elsewhere for $400. I would think the $2100 extra would give me that right. If you don't have the time for me then you are understaffed.

By the way, I would love for Walmart to get in the cpap business.

Frustrated DME wrote: My intention is not to upset the owner of this site, I know everyone appreciates this forum and I would understand if my posts get deleted, but to share the other perspective of this equation.
... I am not someone that knows him or this particular company or site, but I also would not want people to forget what he has done for you when he cant do the same anymore.

You certainly do not know this site. Why would Johnny delete your posts, when he knows we have read this thread of what happened when Janelle's APAP broke?

Post subject: DMEs charge more for all that support service! NOT!

Im currently on my 16 hour of an 8 hour paid workday

I wonder how you would feel if you employers consistently described you as a person with DEMANDS, the way you're describing us.
On second thought, maybe they already do... and that's what you're passing on to your clients.

You are not being treated fairly by a system that reimburses you in the same amount for different priced merchandise. You loose money if you sell the client what the client wants (a more expensive PAP machine or mask). What do you tell the clients who wants such equipment? It's really an impossible situation.

You are not being paid extra time. Your conditions are such that you cannot give people the service they need or expect, beause you're running a mom and pop shop, and they want 24 hour service. You sense Walmart breathing down your back.
It's must be very frustrating -- I hope for you that you can find something to work at that will give you similar profits, and less frustration.

O.

Guest,

I must say that you are shooting yourself in the foot -- and reinforcing the impression that most users of this forum have of DME's being evil. If you had the courage to log in and post as yourself, all of us would avoid you like the plague. As it stands, you are not doing yourself any favors -- or any of the other DME's -- good or evil.

There are a lot of talented, well educated, extremely intelligent folks on this forum, and you are not succeeding in pulling the wool over our eyes. You are absolutely entitled to your opinion -- and so are we. Your stance would be much more liable to be accepted if you did not lose your temper and rant.

I am a business owner, and when the day is over -- you don't go to the bank by offending and bad mouthing your customers. You do the best for your customers and employees, and hope that you have a buck in your pocket when you go home.

The increase in the insurance premiums for our employees is astronomical, and I can't believe that the outrageous prices that DME's charge isn't at least partially responsible. The whole medical system is broken and spiraling out of control. I don't know what the answer is. As the premium costs go up, more can't afford to have insurance -- and who pays? We all do -- in the form of even higher premiums if we are lucky enough to have insurance, and in the form of rising taxes for state and federal payments for uninsured people's bills.

I have had several very satisfactory transactions with our hosts, and everything has been factory sealed -- NOT left over, used or stolen. Their phone support is outstanding and the response time to questions is rapid. I think that you have a lot of gall to come and bad mouth them on their own forum. They have made a lot of effort to make this forum a good place to come and learn -- that takes time, committment and money. CPAP.COM is serving their niche very well, and their customers are happy.

You do not have to participate on this forum, and you are hurting your business and ALL DME's business with your unpleasant posts.

Let it go -- sometimes silence IS golden.

Ditto's

You can't win a argument with a stone wall!!!!!

OK - so my cpap broke down Thursday night. I called my DME first thing Friday morning and was passed to their 'call back' line. No call back Friday. None over the weekend (not really expected). No Call back Monday - called Monday morning - I was told that the APap my Dr. prescribed was in and passed to someone to make an appointment to pick it up. She in turn told me that the first half-hour opening they had was in 2 weeks. I told her my current cpap was not working and she told me to bring it in Wednesday to their repair clinic. The good news is that they replaced it (of course I am forced by the insurance company to rent it, so what choice does the DME have but to repair/replace it?). The bad news is that I was without for 5 days.

So where is all this 'service' my DME is providing? I do recognize that the DME has overhead and operating costs to pay for. But because the insurance company will pay 3 times what I can buy the equipment for from legitimate dealers like CPAP.com, does not make it any more palatable. And having worked in the retail world all my life, I can tell you that a company cannot survive if they are charging less than cost for their goods. Yes, there are undoubtedly ebayers selling 'hot', used, defective, and sample cpap equipment. But standard dealers on-line sell new, standard goods and stand behind their sales.

For the most part, the people at my DME offices are nice, polite, helpful folks. But they are slow to call back, have an obvious lack of knowledge about the equipment, and provide far less help than I get from this forum. I do not need a DME to change my CPAP setting. My Doctor believes I have a better understanding of my condition than he does and trusts me to make these settings.

On top of it all, they have still not billed me or the insurance for the rental of the cpap or the mask. When I finally talked to someone about the repair/replacement of my broken cpap and again when I actually took it in, they (the DME) seemed confused about the rental believing I owned it and had purchased it somewhere else. My guess is they have failed to record renting the cpap and selling me the mask. (I have had it for 3 months now). I have gotten the bill for the humidifier and water container which was ordered and delivered 2 weeks after the original transaction. (And when I asked why they had charged me for the water container when all humidifiers come with one, they told me that some don't and they bill for all of them separately)

The ONLY reason I am forced to deal with the DME is because the insurance company (Providence Health Insurance) requires me to. And curiously, the only 'in-network' DME my insurance company recognizes (in a city of 3.5 million) is Providence Home Services.

Certainly the DME providers are not the only industry that charge whatever the market will bear. But it is onerous to be overcharged when we are forced to do business with them. The sad thing is that even with their excessive prices, my cost after the insurance company pays for 90% will still be less than what I would pay if I bypassed the insurance company and purchased it directly.

it took my DME about 3-4 months to submit the claim to the insurance, too. To me, if the DMEs are in that bad a shape financially from month to month why do they take so long to submit claims? That is simply bad business!

When I got my first rental CPAP I was told they would have my 420E when I came back in 2 weeks. Guess what? No it wasn't there three weeks later. They had just ordered it. So I had to wait another 2 weeks. I told them they could do their orders online and have them the next day from Houston. They said they have to order direct from the manufacturer. And the manufacturer charges them more for their cost than I could buy the same thing online.

So, tell me, why would you buy from someone who would charge you more? Even the government buys from the lowest bidder, even if it is a screw that costs $500, it was still the lowest bid. Wouldn't it make more sense for them to buy from someone like CPAP.com at a lower price and pass that on to their clients? Or if not, they would be able to pay those RTs, secretaries, claim people and receptionists a bit more. Bad business there, too.

again, there is a factor to the equation that you folks do not consider. you recognize that the dme company is going three months plus without getting paid.

how does that effect a business? services rendered today are not paid for over three months? how about your personal pay check be withheld for three months, how do you survive that?

by the way, dme companies dont get paid one time, not because they dont want to, but because your dr cant get them the paperwork required to get paid to begin with. then they have to deal with your insurance companys stall tactics. Dme companies employ on average twice as many collection/billing personel than actual service techs and rt's.

a dme company provides, " Durable Medical Equipment " Therefore the fact that they cannot instantanously acommidate your every demand and whim should be expected. They are not CPAP WORLD, or CPAP-MART.

Just like you are looking for a solution with your sleep apnea, they have customers looking for solutions for their own various ailments, that require the use of other equipment such as oxygen, beds, wheelchairs, walkers, canes, alternating pressure mattresses, nebulizers, suction pumps, etc. that the DME company has to provide, service and be knowledgeable about.

Im sure there is not one single person that can say their DME company did not have a few different models of blowers or masks to choose from. You guys are complaining that the DME companies are not providing machines that cost four times more money for the same discounted fee that your insurance pays, six months later.

So, what makes you so special that your sleep apnea needs to be treated with the cadillac of all equipment, just because you read about it on a website? Sure someone that needs a wheelchair from a DME company would LOVE to get one of the cool robotic ones that climb stairs, shit who doesnt need to climb stairs? But when their insurance pays $80 a month is the DME company evil for not pulling one of those $20k chairs out of their ass just because its better? how about that same patient compromise, theyll "accept" a $3k titanium chair thats lighter and stronger, i guess the correct thing for the dme co to do in your eyes is to provide the equipment, lose $2k and wait six months to receive their first months rental payment, and go to sleep feeling good that they took care of a customer. Meanwhile, their spouses cant sleep wondering where they are going to live because they cant pay their mortgage. ignorant

Will the moderators please block this foul mouth moron.

I for one will never buy another thing from my DMP. When I asked to pay cash for an activa mask (I had not met my deductable and was in the process of changing ins. companies so I knew I wouldn't reach the deductable) they refused and said it had to be billed through my insurance. They billed my insurance $670.00 of which the ins. co allowed $370.00 but didn't pay anything so I am stuck with a $370.00 bill to be handed a mask. No service at all. I hope they make good use of this payment because there will be no more from me.

Glenn

I wonder if that "guest" is the same as the one before? He is getting rude and he is losing his credibility. I wonder if he's been up too long?

[quote="Glenn"]Will the moderators please block this foul mouth moron.

Please don't block Guest. We do still have freedom of speech in this country (except in sports) . Guest is doing a great job of showing the arrogance of many (not all) in the business.

:twis ted:

Greetings,

I've gotten several requests to block this Guest.

I believe that what the majority of users find offensive are Guest's beliefs and the style of delivery of those beliefs.

However, we don't ban for voicing unpopular opinions on this board.

Guest, I do ask that your future posts be free of profanity, as that does cross the line and will result in future action. Past that, as much as I and others disagree with it, your point of view is welcomed here.

So far, cpaptalk.com has been largely comprised of forward thinking providers (DMEs, Doctors and Sleep Labs) and high end CPAP users. As we grow, other prevalent industry opinions will be expressed on this board.

Guest is not an anomaly, he represents a large portion of the industry opinion. When I ask cpaptalkers to get involved, I do so in an attempt to counter such opinions. As of this post, cpaptalk has grown up and gotten a taste of what much of the industry thinks about patients.

However, the question of "what are we as a community going to do about it" continues to nag at us, as many say with their lips they want to get involved, but do little or nothing.

Johnny