Changes To CPAP.com Prescription Policy

Every body here starts with a home sleep test administered by a nurse or RT. From there we are either diagnosed and provided with a prescription or sent to the more complex (and expensive) sleep lab. If you get a CPAP after a month you get a take home APAP which you use with your own mask for a second test after which your cpap will get adjusted. This method is cheap and catches most straight forward OSA. Home monitoring equipment is getting much more sophisticated. It works very well to sift the complex patients out from the straight forward ones. All of the tests are 100% covered by Quebec medicare. You can of course chose to pay out of pocket for a fancy private sleep lab.

The problem as I see it is not that the tests take time but that they are administered far too late and that most doctors don't take OSA seriously enough. If doctors send people for tests early on then simple take home tests will be no problem.

Personally I am fine with the system saving money on sleep tests so if I need a pacemaker I will have one in 48 hours or less (like my mother did) with no out of pocket costs or effect on my future care.

rooster wrote:El Pap,

I think we are mostly in agreement in the details, but as a country boy myself, looking at the big picture, I consider the diagnosis and treatment of SDB is a huge flop in the population in general. I hope we live long enough to see new, inexpensive and easy methods of diagnosis and treatment become universal.

Regards,

I won't argue that point. Far too many primary care doctors don't bother asking questions about sleep, daytime sleepiness, and falling asleep at inappropriate times during well care exams and physicals, even of people in the highest risk groups. Unbelievable...

rooster wrote:El Pap,

I think we are mostly in agreement in the details, but as a country boy myself, looking at the big picture, I consider the diagnosis and treatment of SDB is a huge flop in the population in general. I hope we live long enough to see new, inexpensive and easy methods of diagnosis and treatment become universal.

Regards,

See my post about nanobots here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=43464&p=385595&e=385595

I keep reading about people leaving their Doctors office without their Rx in hand. My Dr tried this with the words, I'll fax the Rx to the DME and my response was no way. I told the Dr that I would choose the DME I dealt with, not him and I wanted my Rx in hand when I left his office. He started to get insistent about using the DME he dealt with(read 50% owner) and when I started to leave I told him I would file a complaint with the State Medical Board for refusing to give me a Rx he prescribed, he handed it to me. I did call the state Board and found out it is not only unethical but illegal to not give the patient the original Rx that is prescribed.

I didn't see any posts on the subject ...

Didn't ResMed just take their software off the market ... now this discussion.

Do we see a trend here?

Jan

janp wrote:I didn't see any posts on the subject ...Didn't ResMed just take their software off the market ... now this discussion. Do we see a trend here?

Jan

That was my opinion also when I first read it! It smells of Resmad's heavy handed policy. They have a track record of starting anti end user policys. Also The reason I will never own a Resmed product. It is justg a shame that when they get away with it the others jump on the wagon instead of taking that as a opertunity to take over a biger portion of the market.

Jerry

I wanted to read all the posts on this topic before I responded.

First of all, I wonder if there is going to be a problem obtaining the mask of my choice because my prescription clearly calls out a specific mask. I have since switched to another mask. The way I read it, there shouldn't be a problem. But the next time I see my sleep doc, I am going to ask her for a more generic prescription.

Second, perhaps it was CPAP.COM's reaction to Resmed's policy that prompted Resmed to talk to the FDA, who in turn talked to Johnny.... we will probably never know what started this vicious circle. As likely, if not more likely was new policies at the FDA.

So, I really think we can blame our President and current Congress for this mess. What is going on The new health care package being touted is nothing more than a huge increase in regulatory oversight of the average citizen. What we are seeing now is the inevitable increase in regulatory enforcement that seems to come before a major change in policy.

The GAO (I think) came out today and said Obama's health care plan will not save any money. And they aren't the only ones saying this. Instead, it sounds like a plan to codify every aspect of our health care, and make everything 'a Federal case'. Before long, you will be lucky if you can get a CPAP machine at all. There will be so many regulations about health care that the old adge will apply, 'don't get sick'. I bet they will even try and control what and how much you can eat in the name of 'better medicine through prevention'. (Ignoring that some must eat like a lion to be healthy while others must eat like a lamb. There is no one perfect diet.) If all the UN treaties being bantered about get adopted, count it lucky if you can even get vitamans.

This in my opinion is the first signs of the 'train wreck' we are headed for in this country concerning health care (and a lot of other things as well). There is no way a government-mandated health care plan can work unless the greed is completely and thoroughly purged from the system. And I am not sure if government care can even work at all. Its too big of a bureaucratic nightmare. The founding fathers never intended for monstrosities like this to exist.

Black markets are legitimate places to buy things in many countries. The 'middle management' authorities look the other way (to a point) because they don't want the civil unrest that would follow shutting down the black market. We are heading that direction here in the US. It may well be that good healthcare becomes illegal.

Keep those old masks and machines. They might be good for some hard money someday. Or, a goat or a chicken, or a gallon of gasoline......

^^^^^^^ Someone has been drinking the Fox News Channel Kool-Aid ^^^^^^^

First, I don't think this change in CPAP.COM policy has anything whatsoever to do with the national healthcare debate.

Second, the current system is terribly flawed in regard to obtaining CPAP equipment and supplies. My insurance deductibles and co-pays go up each year, and I have the choice of two large in-network DMEs that charge-out-the-wazoo for these items, such that it's cheaper and easier to just pay out-of-pocket and get them from an Internet retailer.

I applaud the president for pushing for a national healthcare option. The simple truth is that good comprehensive health insurance plans are simply not affordable for those who aren't covered by group policies at work. That's especially true with a diagnosis of sleep apnea on your medical record.

While I don't have confidence in congress to come up with anything even approaching a perfect bill, we can't afford to do nothing.

timbalionguy wrote: There is no way a government-mandated health care plan can work unless the greed is completely and thoroughly purged from the system.
It may well be that good healthcare becomes illegal.
Keep those old masks and machines. They might be good for some hard money someday. Or, a goat or a chicken, or a gallon of gasoline......

Why are they talking about how to pay for health care??

Why aren't they talking about how to reduce the cost of health care??

....because no one is going to take on the big money lobby
of insurance and the drug industry. Legalized graft and corruption
buys the right kind of votes.

Following the lead of my mentor, wulfman, I'm stock piling cpap equipment.

When cpap is outlawed, only outlaws will have cpap.

carbonman wrote:
Why are they talking about how to pay for health care??

Why aren't they talking about how to reduce the cost of health care??

....because no one is going to take on the big money lobby
of insurance and the drug industry. Legalized graft and corruption
buys the right kind of votes.

Following the lead of my mentor, wulfman, I'm stock piling cpap equipment.

When cpap is outlawed, only outlaws will have cpap.

Carbonman, you are on the right track.

Health care costs have gotten to be the way they are because of a fundamental 'problem' with healthcare. And that problem is, in most cases, it is non-optional. Because healthcare is generally non-optional, the providers thereof feel they can cahrge as much as the market will bear for it, if not more. To them, they have no problem taking your home, your car, your whatever if you regain your health in the process.

This is the real reason why the oft-mentioned prescription drug act came to be-- to create a closed, anti-competitive system in which the health care providers can make more money. The result of this law is kind of like why there are skyscrapers in New York City. A change in a zoning law many years ago had the unexpected effect of causing people to build taller. The result is the skyscrapers of today. Likewise, the passage of the Prescription Drug Act resulted in the kind of healthcare business landscape we have today.

Attacking the greed in the system is a very difficult thing to do, because it is entrenched, and the people affected have deep pockets. What is really needed is to drop almost all rules and restrictions on the way healthcare businesses operate. This will force competition by making healthcare providers actually work for your business. It has the disadvantage that you have to be responsible for your own actions, though, a concept that seems to have disappeared in this country.

In Mexico, for instance, I can walk into any pharmacy and buy the drugs I take, no questions asked. Of course, it is up to me to take them in accordance with the proper use of those drugs. But I can do that. We need that same thing here. It will break a lot of the exclusivity of the healthcare system, including the DME mess that so many here have had to suffer through. But I am afraid that the health care plan now before Congress will just systemize the mess we are already in, and add tons more rules on what we as patients can and cannot do. Remember the thread about the woman who was told she couldn't have an APAP machine because 'Obama was encouraging reducing waste in the healthcare system' and 'they cost four times as much as a CPAP machine'? This is the very sort of thing we can expect going forward as regulatory agencies start splitting hairs (that's big government under a liberal administration) and massive healthcare 'reform' becomes the law of the land. That's socialism for you.

A darker, more sinister view of this could be having some people refused health care because it is not 'socially cost effective'-- the elderly, the premature, the terminal cancer patient, etc.

Yes, I am considering stockpiling supplies as well. But I have taken so many hits financially lately that I will be unable to do this probably for about 9 months. By then, it might be too late.

Now that Johnny has posted a letter explaining that the new policy is because of FDA regulations, may I suggest that this debate on federalized healthcare be moved to its own O/T thread?

Here's the update on the CPAP.com prescription policy: https://www.cpap.com/DisplayNewsletter/77

Here are my exhausted thoughts on government involvement in healthcare, or any other private industry:

NO, NO, NO! [1] [2] [3]

Worked cited:

[1] http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html

[2] http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2052/236 ... 0a07b0.jpg

[3] CPAP.com, functional private healthcare in action

Johnny

Well, at least we don't have to have separate prescriptions for masks and humidifiers once we have our original XPAP prescription. And, that's very helpful of cpap.com to acquire presecriptions from doctors if customers request that assistance!

johnnygoodman wrote:Here's the update on the CPAP.com prescription policy: https://www.cpap.com/DisplayNewsletter/77

Here are my exhausted thoughts on government involvement in healthcare, or any other private industry:

NO, NO, NO! [1] [2] [3]

Worked cited:

[1] http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html

[2] http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2052/236 ... 0a07b0.jpg

[3] CPAP.com, functional private healthcare in action

Johnny

But, Johnny.......isn't this "the CHANGE we can believe in".....???


OK......on a more serious note.......isn't the government's (current and previous) involvement with the healthcare system a big part of the problem with what we have now?
Personally, I have no confidence in a government-run healthcare system, but have also seen the problems with the existing (so called) "private" system (read that as runaway insurance costs, waste, fraud and abuse).

Either way, we're screwed!


Den

Wulfman wrote:
But, Johnny.......isn't this "the CHANGE we can believe in".....???


OK......on a more serious note.......isn't the government's (current and previous) involvement with the healthcare system a big part of the problem with what we have now?
Personally, I have no confidence in a government-run healthcare system, but have also seen the problems with the existing (so called) "private" system (read that as runaway insurance costs, waste, fraud and abuse).

Either way, we're screwed!


Den

In other words, S.N.A.F.U.