Sleep Center charges.... off the wall!

Sleeper · Post by **Sleeper** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 9:45 pm

Does this make any sense? I just got the bill for my deductible from the hospital for my split night study/titration and it looks like they charged my insurance $1410 for the "attended polysomnograph" and then _another_ $1282 for the "titration w/cpap".... total, $2692.

Of course the insurance didn't pay quite that, and my portion is much smaller, but I feel like I was double-billed. Or is this just the norm?!

Man, there is a LOT of money in this biz.

Lyn · Post by **Lyn** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 10:48 pm

Sleeper,

My first sleep study was billed at $1500.00 & the titration at $1550.00

Lyn

Sleeper · Post by **Sleeper** » Fri Oct 07, 2005 11:07 pm

Lyn wrote:Sleeper,

My first sleep study was billed at $1500.00 & the titration at $1550.00

That makes sense to me, Lyn... It's almost like, even though I did a split-night study, they wanted to hit me with full charges the equivalent of 2 studies. Ticks me off a little because my _1st_ sleep study, back in February, was a complete sleepless disaster, yielded no results, and yet like clockwork they billed $1600 to my insurance. Now my second study costs almost twice as much!! Just seems fishy to me.

rock and roll · Post by **rock and roll** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 4:54 pm

Welcome to the world of Cpap ripoffs!

It would seem we are a group the medical profession views as a patsey forf ripping off. And the insurance companies go along with it so why not I guess

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 5:01 pm

Which explains why I chose to not do a sleep study. I don't have the insurance and the costs seemed outrageous. I was able to learn enough from reading posts on this board to be able to determine what to buy. Since I bought an APAP, I believe that I can determine the proper settings and switch to the CPAP mode afterwards.

The problem is that many cannot even afford to buy the equipment even though they stop breathing at night. Go figure...

ProfessorSleep · Post by **ProfessorSleep** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 6:58 pm

Interesting. I've blocked the actual charges from my mind, but it all added up to around $4000. Ouch! Considering it was "a sleep study" there sure were a lot of parts (and charges) to it. Such is the state of health care in the US.

rock and roll · Post by **rock and roll** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 7:18 pm

I think that the first responce shouid be a rented APAP versus a full sleep study. It would save a lotg of money.

sthnreb · Post by **sthnreb** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 7:42 pm

I had to go back a second time. The first time, I slept very little but enough they said to get readings but not enough to do the titration. Normally, if you sleep good, half way through the night they put the mask on and do the titration. Seems mine was about $1100 each time for a total of around $2200. That was in 2002 so I have no idea of the prices today. Reading some of the other pricing, mine must have been more reasonable than some. My insurance just pays a flat amount for OSA, $2500 lifetime. Anything over that is out of pocket.

rock and roll · Post by **rock and roll** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 7:51 pm

Amazing how many times we have to go a second time

Flower51 · Post by **Flower51** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 7:58 pm

They didn't even do a titration study for me and charged almost 3,000! Terry

rock and roll · Post by **rock and roll** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 8:03 pm

I have seen three slepp study clinics open up in my area in just this past year. They are in very posh areas and buildings. No wonder at the prices they are getting. Maybe we ought to pool our funds as a group and open our own clinic. I could be vp of mattress and pillow aquisition, RG could be in charge of design, Lori could be pr director and answer all emails, Wader could design the building and on and on. We could make a fortune

sthnreb · Post by **sthnreb** » Sat Oct 08, 2005 8:55 pm

Keep rolling Rock...you also have derek to handle the software and programing. Mine was at first scheduled in a posh hospital. I got the cost and called around and where I went had been in business longer and was less expensive, so I scheduled and went there. They were quite reputable and in a hospital, (medical center). The owners of Cpap also run a sleep lab according to the website, maybe some pointers from them as long as it doesn't compete with their area. There has to be a reason for the up and down prices at various places.

sleepyred · Post by **sleepyred** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 6:47 am

I have Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS) and my doc sent me home with an auto cpap for 5 nights. They downloaded the results and without telling me what he thought, the doc asked me how I felt. I told him that I slept better than I had in years (obviously not perfect because I'd never used one in my life). He showed me the results and said "GREAT!" Let's submit a request to your insurance company. That was in Aug. and the office never billed my insurance company for that 5 day trial. Now I'm on a 1 month trial from my insurance company. Of course, I don't have OSA, so the standards might be totally different. In fact, UARS is "new to cpap usage" and it can be very hard getting approva.

frostman · Post by **frostman** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 8:12 am

Try 3000 1st time and 3500 the next. Luckily i was out very little

twistedcherokee · Post by **twistedcherokee** » Sun Oct 09, 2005 8:28 am

Since I did not have ins I paid 1000.00. The normal price if I had ins was going to be 2400.00. Makes you wonder doesn't it.

Toby

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