"please keep me updated about oximeters "
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getting around the prescrition issue
i applied for a acpap and was told that a picture of my personal cpap would be evidence that i use a cpap
i would reccommend in the picture something with a name and photo ID as well
like driving licence
You can use your moble phone to take the photo
Views: 51
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by James @ Intus on
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Hi 99,
I just happened to catch this thread on Twitter, nice feature by the way Mike, how that gets looped into Twitter automatically.
Please allow me to clarify the situation. We're in the UK and as stipulated in UK guidelines and regulations about the provision of CPAP, we of course need to make sure that when somebody orders a CPAP or Auto-CPAP, or an MAS for that matter, has had a sleep study and does not have any contra-indications for use of said equipment.
As stated on our EU-PAP.co.uk website on all machine pages, we always request documentary evidence of a diagnosis, sleep study report or any other letter that supports the need for the purchase of that equipment.
What in rare cases happens is that a person needs a machine in a hurry (current broken/lost in baggage/stolen even) but can not get to their documentation right away (on holiday, documentation in removal van, we've heard it all). What we have done in exceptional circumstances like that, is to suggest one brings in or indeed photographs their current equipment as a temporary bit of 'proof' for us to consider. We still expect the full documentation to come in for our archive asap and we still endeavour to contact the person's clinic to check their therapy before we dispatch anything.
Taking a picture of your CPAP is no substitute for a prescription or real evidence. Anyone can find such an image online, or take a picture of their friend's CPAP. It sure doesn't work that way. It's for your own benefit that we check you really need CPAP as we do get people who've read online about OSA and then decide they want a machine. However, it could be that they don't have OSA in which case a CPAP is most likely a waste of money and it could also mean a CPAP does more harm than good. Which is definitely something we need to avoid. Not that we don't believe you, it's just the rules designed for everybody's benefit.
So if someone claims not to have any documentation and unable to get it from their clinic, we can only conclude there is no diagnosis and then we ask them to do our own in-home sleep study, if appropriate. If they say "I'm on holiday now but I'll fax it over next week" we have once or twice made an exception and accepted a phone call confirmation with their clinic along with a picture as an exception in the meanwhile. In the end of the day, we know how difficult it is to be without your equipment! We don't want to make it more difficult than it should be but equally, our flexibility is not designed to be abused so everybody can just email a picture.
I hope that clears it up and apologies if that wasn't explained clearly.
Let me know if you have any further questions. I'm always in the UK CPAP Forums, on Twitter, available by phone and e-mail as listed on our many websites.
As I've been following Mike's tweets, I'll try and pop in here every now and then too as it seems like a great resource.
Regards,
James @ Intus
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