Has OSA become a cash cow.

BlackSpinner wrote:A home test is the starter that will catch most simple OSA in a cost effective method......

Healthcare is not just about costs... if it was, we'd still be being treated with leeches in unsantitary conditions

So much discussion on here I don't know where to begin! Great thoughts and comments! Since I work for the "cash cow" and use CPAP I agree with most of you, and understand where your coming from. As one person stated sleep medicine is fairly new. They have only been doing full night sleep studies since the '60's. It was 1965 that sleep apnea was discovered and for years thought only obese people could have it. Well look how far we have come. As of the last time I checked there are over 88 sleeping disorders. I currently work out of a small hospital room. It was not because they wanted money or thought they could make a killing, it was out of need. The nearest sleep lab is over an hour away, and has a 2-3 month waiting list. Now this room has had a new paint job, some nice pictures hung up, and a brand new non-hospital bed. Not quite like home, but does not have the feel of a hospital. I have been running this lab for under 3 months and we are so busy, we are looking at fixing up another room, so I can run two sleep studies a night. Now ,are we making some money as well? Yes we are. We charge $1500 for a sleep study, and if the patient meets the requirements of a split-night ( 15 respiratory events an hour and 2 hours of sleep), then I do the split-night. I try to do whats best for the patient, not my accounting department.

I get so angry when I read all the people that have fallen through the cracks or have been dumped once on CPAP. This is so wrong! I am thankful I work in a small lab so my manager and I can keep in touch with every patient and make sure they are doing ok with their therapy, and if not, we try to fix it asap.

Home studies-huge debate on these, as I have seen on this thread. In the lab I bet I have to fix a wire (replace it) at least once a night on every patient. They forget its there and rub their eye knocking it off. There is no one at home to catch this in time and fix it. The result? A bad study that the doctor can not diagnose. If they had a fool proof home test, I'm all for it!

I know not all sleep labs are "created equal" and I am sorry so many people have had a bad experience at a lab.I left a large sleep lab because they pushed people through like they were animals, and the wait time was horrible. You are right! you should not have to prove your oxygen is dropping and then be told to wait a month! But it is people like you that can tell your story that help people like me to make sure I work hard to educate my patients, follow up with them, and make their stay as comfortable as possible! I love working in sleep medicine because unlike allot of jobs I had, this one makes a difference. I live it every night I put on my CPAP.

Well this post didn't go as smooth as I wanted, but the more I typed the more upset I got that every lab, every DME company and every doctor won't step up to the plate and provide us with the best care,education, and team work that we deserve, and need.

Cudos to you montana user and the facility you work for. This is what responsible healthcare delivery is all about.

billbolton wrote:

BlackSpinner wrote:A home test is the starter that will catch most simple OSA in a cost effective method......

Healthcare is not just about costs... if it was, we'd still be being treated with leeches in unsantitary conditions

Actually, leech therapy is making a come back into the medical field.

And judging by some hospitals I've been to recently, so are unsanitary conditions.

Excuse me all to pieces...how could you consider finding a disorder and then treating it a cash cow...What about cancer treatment, heart disease treatment, why not yell about the rising costs of meds in the pharmacy industry? It cracks me up...you people whine and complain when you find out you have apnea, then blame the people who want to treat you for wanting to sell you a bill of goods....you make us feel like used car salesmen...just get out of your denial and be thankful that there is help for you middle aged infantile thinking self loathing individuals. Or you could just shut up and die in your sleep like people used to.

somnotech wrote:Excuse me all to pieces...how could you consider finding a disorder and then treating it a cash cow...What about cancer treatment, heart disease treatment, why not yell about the rising costs of meds in the pharmacy industry? It cracks me up...you people whine and complain when you find out you have apnea, then blame the people who want to treat you for wanting to sell you a bill of goods....you make us feel like used car salesmen...just get out of your denial and be thankful that there is help for you middle aged infantile thinking self loathing individuals. Or you could just shut up and die in your sleep like people used to.

Hit a nerve did we? Feeling guilty?

We ain't gonna sit on our knees and sing hosannas to you if that is what you want. You guys do a job and most of you do it badly.

If it wasn't a cash cow there would patient software out there for us to control our issues.
If it wasn't a cash cow we would get reall service instead of the machine fobbed off on us with a 15 explanation - most of which is filling in forms.
If it wasn't a cash cow there wouldn't be such a huge difference in costs between cpap.com and brick and mortar DME because the service sure doesn't make the difference
If it wasn't a cash cow there wouldn't be all these used car salesmen running so called sleep labs

somnotech wrote:Excuse me all to pieces...how could you consider finding a disorder and then treating it a cash cow...What about cancer treatment, heart disease treatment, why not yell about the rising costs of meds in the pharmacy industry? It cracks me up...you people whine and complain when you find out you have apnea, then blame the people who want to treat you for wanting to sell you a bill of goods....you make us feel like used car salesmen...just get out of your denial and be thankful that there is help for you middle aged infantile thinking self loathing individuals. Or you could just shut up and die in your sleep like people used to.

just get out of your denial and be thankful that there is help for you middle aged infantile thinking self loathing individuals. Or you could just shut up and die in your sleep like people used to.

[/quote]

now there is real professionalism btw do you have any 1985 pinto's to sell????????????????

OUCH, I am not a used car salesman. I take pride and work damn hard to make patients feel comfortable, educated, and do follow up. This is like most things though, it takes a few bad ducks to make all of us look bad. I understand that. I just had to let you know salesman is not on my resume'..lol

Interesting subject.

Before we all start tearing each other apart - appreciate that there are many factors at work here ...

- cpap therapy is a very new branch of medicine
- lack of awareness of the problem is creating its own problems
- awareness among the medical profession and the public is growing rapidly
- obesity (accept it or deny it) is a *major* contributor in the USA (just as obesity is to diabetes type 2)
- the cost to the nation, via co-morbidity, of not addressing OSA is massive - this has to improve

Attacking the workers in the industry or workers counter attacking the sufferers, is totally counter productive.

TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOURSELF - a great aspect of cpaptalk.com - DON'T LOOK FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO BLAME.

Here at cpaptalk we have a proud record of helping people. We see the positive side of this all the time. BUT, don't
let us here start attacking the field workers moving into this industry. Let us politely help them understand that we
are typical of who they will come up against as the knowledge spreads thanks to the internet and sites like cpaptalk.com

DSM

Guest wrote:When the insurance company calculates you lifetime total capped at say $100,000., do they count the amount billed or the amount they paid?

Good question, but I have no idea.

BlackSpinner wrote:

somnotech wrote:Excuse me all to pieces...how could you consider finding a disorder and then treating it a cash cow...What about cancer treatment, heart disease treatment, why not yell about the rising costs of meds in the pharmacy industry? It cracks me up...you people whine and complain when you find out you have apnea, then blame the people who want to treat you for wanting to sell you a bill of goods....you make us feel like used car salesmen...just get out of your denial and be thankful that there is help for you middle aged infantile thinking self loathing individuals. Or you could just shut up and die in your sleep like people used to.

Hit a nerve did we? Feeling guilty?

We ain't gonna sit on our knees and sing hosannas to you if that is what you want. You guys do a job and most of you do it badly.

If it wasn't a cash cow there would patient software out there for us to control our issues.
If it wasn't a cash cow we would get reall service instead of the machine fobbed off on us with a 15 explanation - most of which is filling in forms.
If it wasn't a cash cow there wouldn't be such a huge difference in costs between cpap.com and brick and mortar DME because the service sure doesn't make the difference
If it wasn't a cash cow there wouldn't be all these used car salesmen running so called sleep labs

Can I ask you something?

On second thought, NM.

Instead, since asteroids are generally metallic in nature, I have amassed a mountain of 36,453 metric tons of alnico magnets around which I will perform the Asteroid Dance:

Today? Please Be Today!

In order to add to the frenzy, there is a billboard-sized poster of Gabby and her didge at the top.

Dayyyyyyyyyyyyymmmmmnnnnnn!!

brb.

Muffy

Maybe on second thought I was a bit harsh; however if somehow we could get insurance companies to send their patients to accredited sleep labs to insure quality service and care and not send their patients to the used car sales sleep labs and dme as mentioned by someone who was obviously shafted by lack of education and service, we would not have such bad attitudes on both side of the discussion.