In past blogs, I have criticized the manufacturers of CPAP devices for not marketing their latest, greatest CPAP data monitoring software to end-users, the people like you and me who actually rely on the results from these machines to breathe every night. The majority of this software is marketed on a restricted basis to doctors, respiratory therapists and clinicians. I have since learned, however, that the manufacturers aren't primarily the ones to blame. Rather, they are the victims of the demands of their largest customers -- the big medical equipment providers, otherwise known as your not-so-friendly DME. These DMEs have been successful in lobbying against wide distribution of the data monitoring software. Why? I'm not really sure, but I suspect it's that by keeping us patients ignorant about whether our CPAP treatment is actually working, we will blindly go along with whatever they tell us about our treatment, and not ask too many questions. Questions demand answers, and they don't want to be in the answering business -- they just want to sell us machines and equipment and see our money but not us.

We at SleepGuide are fine with the DMEs not being in the problem-solving business. We would only ask that the DMEs not step in our way while we try to solve the problems for ourselves.