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Well today the person from where I get my supplies is coming to my home.. (PAP therapy person) She/He will try and find a mask I can put on and off myself..Also a mask with a better fit so it doesn't cut into my chin...Wish me luck...

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Whenever I changed machines (several times) and when I was having lots of trouble with a mask the DME came to my home.  For reordering of supplies I call on the phone ans they send it by UPS.
Everyone on here with the exception of a spammer belongs here.  We have people who have had every possible experience with their equipment provider.  If your experience was good that's great, but the docs and suppliers have left many of us to fend for ourselves, with, as you said, little or no follow up. You spent five years with the wrong size mask.

Noreen LaVallo said:
Do you even belong on this forum?  Of course they would come to your home to fit your mask, check your machine for problems, reset the machine.....would it be better for the patient to be treated poorly due to little or no follow up?   Sleep Apnea kills.....
Yes, and a home visit during those years might have solved the issue.  However to add to the ugly political meme of blaming the high cost of healthcare on something so important on a forum such as this is totally uncalled for.

All equipment provided by Home Reach is brought to the home by there supplier...or they have a room with a fitting room & everything at the hospital connected to the Sleep Disorders Lab if your in the hospital but they make it as stress free as poss for the patient so its basically as your choice as which ever works for you..awesome system...

If you are unable to go to the DME because of some disability it is nice they come to your home.  However, on an ongoing basis,  just to deliver one mask is questionable.

 

And yes Noreen, if the DME making house calls somehow works that cost into the charge they submit to the health insurance company, then it does effect the cost of health care. You don't know how that person runs their business.

I would assume that this was standard procedure for any reputable health care company.

You would think so, wouldn't you, but sadly  that is the exception, not the rule. 

 

Medicare and most insurers will pay a SET amount for a mask, regardless of whether or not the DME came to your home and personally fit you or simply mailed it out to you.  The DME can bill any amount it wants, but Medicare and most insurers are only going to pay a pre-determined fee, regardless of what the charge is.  So that personal service does not drive up the costs, because the DME doesn't really set the costs, Medicare and insurers do.  Supposedly the Medicare reimbursement rate is sufficient to cover the cost of such home visits, but the DME gets the same amount whether they do a home visit or not.  So in essence, DME's are disincentivized from doing home visits, because their profit is higher if they do not. 

 Whenever a new piece of equipment was perscribed, someone always came to make sure that it was fitted/adjusted correctly. I would assume that this was standard procedure for any reputable health care company.

 

I had plenty of experience with local brick-and-mortar DMEs. I will no longer allow them to touch my machine or any of my CPAP equipment and I won't allow them to fit or adjust a mask for me.

I know the stuff better than they do - it's my health at stake and I sleep with it every night.

I have found the internet suppliers to be much more reliable and service-oriented than the locals. This is because the internet suppliers are under more competitive pressure.

No local suppliers allowed on my property! 

 

And yes, by operating this way, I contribute less to the national medical care costs than people who need their hands held.

 

Hi Vashti:

Are you using Res Med swift FX - Nasal pillows? They come with a option to cover the plastic w/ velcro cover upper's and seem to leave the least imprint  of all.

vashti ramdial said:

Good luck my dear, after 8 years I am still to find a mask that do not give me some sort of frustration, with this nasal pillow I am using presently, I get up every morning with impressions on both side of my face, if I should open it up a bit I get leakage. Any suggestions from anyone.

 

Hi Banyon: Just like any business you have the good and the bad. Not ALL are the same. But it is ashamed you had a bad experience.

One good thing is to ask around and see if friends or co-workers recommend any good DME's.

But cool you are self suficient. But everybody is different. Some are so darn sleep deprived- years of sleep deprivation- and yes they need their hand held initially. And if that's what it takes to get them compliant- well then that saves medicare dollars - in that they stay healthy and out of the hospitals, and off meds....which is where the majority of the drain on the medical system comes from.



Banyon said:

 Whenever a new piece of equipment was perscribed, someone always came to make sure that it was fitted/adjusted correctly. I would assume that this was standard procedure for any reputable health care company.

 

I had plenty of experience with local brick-and-mortar DMEs. I will no longer allow them to touch my machine or any of my CPAP equipment and I won't allow them to fit or adjust a mask for me.

I know the stuff better than they do - it's my health at stake and I sleep with it every night.

I have found the internet suppliers to be much more reliable and service-oriented than the locals. This is because the internet suppliers are under more competitive pressure.

No local suppliers allowed on my property! 

 

And yes, by operating this way, I contribute less to the national medical care costs than people who need their hands held.

 

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