Changes To CPAP.com Prescription Policy

Wulfman wrote: More government stupidity. I've been saying for several years that at some point, all of these items will be on the shelves at Wal-Mart.......right next to the glucose meters and strips and the blood pressure testing equipment.
Den

Den, I hope you are right.

This appears to me to be an attempt to ratchet down the control.
Consolidate it w/the manufactures and DMEs.
Maybe the DMEs are actually reading the forum and connecting the dots.
Some patients are getting wise to the game and the DME's are loosing business.

Judging by my experience at the AWAKE meeting a few weeks ago,
we(the educated 'papers) are few and far between.
DMEs, sleep docs, sleep ctrs and manufactures are doing all they
can to keep it that way.

I believe that the response from manufactures and DMEs to maintain this control is sad and pathetic.
They present themselves as health care professionals, dedicated to helping patients.
When, in fact, most of them are only concerned about their profit margin and being in control.
What a tragic joke.

Boss: The server is down. Get an IT specialist up here.
tick,,,tick,,,tick,,,
Boss: The server is down, please fix it.
IT specialist: I SUMMON the POWER of CERTIFICATION!
tick,,,,tick,,,,tick,,,,
Boss: ....it's still down.
IT specialist: Thats all I remember.

Oh, heaven forbid that the public might seriously injure themselves with those dangerous humidifiers and CPAP masks... In the meantime we can freely play roulette---at throwing off the body's respiratory response---down at the trendy oxygen bars without a prescription.

This has nothing to do with public health and safety---and everything to do with business leveraging and corporate politics. The brick-and-mortar DME giants apparently won another round: they just thrust another wacky purchasing barrier onto the laps of their business rivals---their Internet DME counterparts who audaciously as hell directly and competitively serve CPAP users instead of insurance companies.

I think I'll head down to Sears and buy a much more dangerous leaf blower or 150 PSI air compressor without a prescription---politically-leveraging DME giants and FDA be damned.

My guess would be that Johnny has come under some kind of regulatory or legal threat to the way he was doing business and cannot publicly comment about whatever is going on.

I can go down to the corner store to buy liquor and cigarettes that the gumment has clearly determined to have bad effects on my body but I can't place an order for a plastic mask without proving that some medical professional has determined that I need it. As a single Rx sent to the DME covers the machine, mask and humidifier and I would need a new Rx to be sent to CPAP.COM to buy a mask, it certainly creates one more barrier to going somewhere other than the original DME.

And we keep wondering why Americans pay the most of mediocre healthcare outcomes. The delivery system sucks up a lot of cash.

IMHO.

You can keep your original prescription and provide the DMEs and/or online providers with copies. No need for multiple originals, as long as you have one.

I would assume that a scrip for the xPAP machine itself would constitute and include "all assumed and/or required peripherals and accessories"
As Mr. Guest so clearly stated, I'm sure the Fed does require it explicitly written, but there is a divide between government and reality at times.

You can keep your original prescription and provide the DMEs and/or online providers with copies. No need for multiple originals, as long as you have one.

True. But like many Noobs, my first transaction was handled by my doc faxing the Rx over to the DME. I never saw it. Lucky for me, the doc was willing to re-write the Rx so the that I could buy from CPAP.com. Just another barrier - not huge but one that doesn't really have any real purpose.

According to the new rules on cpap.com, a script for a machine is also good for mask and humidifiers without explicitly stating so.

jdm2857 wrote:You can keep your original prescription and provide the DMEs and/or online providers with copies. No need for multiple originals, as long as you have one.

This still constitutes yet another extremely wacky purchasing barrier thrown onto the laps of Internet DME providers. Very few patients walk away from a PSG with a prescription in hand. Rather they usually get shuttled, amidst confusion and naivety, over to the brick-and-mortar DME giants for the usual prearranged corporate deal---a deal that is neither competitively priced nor end-customer focused.

Now there are additional inconvenient hoops that patients must jump through to purchase masks and humidifiers from CPAP.COM: they have to first chase down copies of their prescriptions, let alone from all-too-often begrudging sleep clinics and doctors.

In all honesty, brick-and-mortar corporate DME giants do not seem to serve patients NEARLY as well as corporate DME executives financially and politically serve their own interests. Pure irony when the FDA is politically subverted for corporate gain rather than public welfare.

jdm2857 wrote:According to the new rules on cpap.com, a script for a machine is also good for mask and humidifiers without explicitly stating so.

That's the way I read it, too, but........"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?" (the manufacturers and large conglomerate DME corporations)


Den

This may be a stupid question, but what constitues the rx? All I have is a copy of the titration results with the doc's statement of the doc's "recommendations" ( Auto CPAP with the settings, A-flex w/ heated humidifier - then this signature and that of the director of the sleep lab). Would that suffice? Or does it have to be on a piece of paper from an rx pad?

Guest wrote:Um, masks have ALWAYS required an Rx. Call the FDA or read the mask ownen manual. Funny how this seems so confusing to some people. Eye roll.

How about you come out of hiding and register as a regular user... that might add some credibility to your comments.

Wulfman wrote: More government stupidity. I've been saying for several years that at some point, all of these items will be on the shelves at Wal-Mart.......right next to the glucose meters and strips and the blood pressure testing equipment.

I agree with that.

Mom has had diabetes for years and doesn't jump through the hoops I need to with this sleep apnea equipment. They give her new machines for free.

Someone is trying to preserve the status-quo with this apnea equipment because they are greedy... not because they feel the patients needs are better served.

Guest wrote:Um, masks have ALWAYS required an Rx. Call the FDA or read the mask ownen manual. Funny how this seems so confusing to some people. Eye roll.

Dumb ass!

It becomes confusing to new patients because of dumb ass guests like you ALWAYS dribbling nonesense crap onto the forum.

Wulfman wrote:

jdm2857 wrote:According to the new rules on cpap.com, a script for a machine is also good for mask and humidifiers without explicitly stating so.

That's the way I read it, too, but........"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?" (the manufacturers and large conglomerate DME corporations

That's right. We need a CPAP prescription to buy a mask or humidifier.

The obvious underlying logic recently hurled from DME corporate lawyers in this power play for market share must go something like this:
"CPAP humidifiers and CPAP masks are integral CPAP components. Since a prescription is legally required for a CPAP machine, then that same prescription should be legally required for constituent CPAP components."

Pure market-share power play. Corporate greed having absolutely nothing to do with public welfare. If anything it makes life-sustaining CPAP equipment financially unattainable to all the uninsured and unemployed. I hope those corporate sociopaths rot in hell. Period.

Another stupid government intervention no doubt. Before long the government will be trying to tell us all when and how we should use the bathroom or get up in the morning!

Anywho, do you think this applies to cpapauction as well? I just looked over there and didn't see where masks require a prescription yet. Wonder if this also applies to mask parts (oral cushion, nasal pillows, etc.), when not purchased as part of the entire mask set?

Pam