If your RTs are from Kaiser, what does Apria do, just supply the equipment?
Yes, Apria considers themselves to be an equipment supplier ONLY as far as Kaiser patients are concerned. It's mutually beneficial to Kaiser and Apria, but not to the patient.
Kaiser has a staff of RT's in its sleep clinics who are paid an hourly wage to see as many patients as they possibly can. So it's no problem for Kaiser to do this for more and more people. I estimate that the local clinic puts 20 to 30 new people on CPAP EVERY WEEK. The RT's do all the fitting and recommendations. There are pulmonologists on staff who supposedly write the prescriptions, but the RT's do all the grunt work and interface with the patients. The RT's I've been working locally with are great, I have no complaints in that regard. They know their stuff, they keep up on the latest, and they really work with you, and they bend over backwards to help you adjust to the CPAP.
Kaiser's exclusive contract is with Apria. All Apria has to do is bill Kaiser (and they must give them some sweet deal on the equipment because they are the exclusive provider and get a huge volume of repeat business from Kaiser), collect the patient's co-payment (they will not send anything without it), set up, and mail the equipment out.
Apria will not hand equipment to the patient, even if the patient goes to their office. I was told that their agreement with Kaiser "requires" them to mail the equipment to the patient. Translation: "Kaiser does not pay us enough for this equipment to be responsible for patient assessment and education, even though we are required to do so by law."
Even when I went into the office to make my co-payment by check they seemed upset to have to interact with them that much--they call you and DEMAND (not ask) a co-payment before anything is sent out and they really only want your credit card or a mailed check so they don't have to see you or talk to you face to face.
/Quote/ Note to self: Never look back at Apria. Only consider Kaiser Permanente after finding burial plot./Quote/
I used to say that I would become a Kaiser member over my dead body, but, unfortunately, it’s the only insurance available to me and we don’t have the money to seek care elsewhere. I’m not dead yet.
They do some things very well, but other things stink. I live in fear of getting a cancer or other disease the treatment for which is not on their formulary. But at least I have insurance. And considering what I’ve gone through the past few years healthwise, it’s better than not having had it. The last few years on a PPO were no picnic either, because covered services were getting almost impossible to access in our locale, which has been called by the local press “the Beirut of healthcare”.