Five Year Old CPAP Machine replacement

[ddueck]

I purchased a CPAP machine (Respironics Remstar) five years ago after a full sleep test. It is still working fine although I am starting to replace little things as ongoing maintenance requires.

My health insurance allows me to purchase a new unit after five years. Has the technology changed enough to be looking into a new unit? I notice that the newer units all have software readable on my computer. Is this helpful?

I am curious as to individual's opinions.

[trish6hundred]

Hi ddueck,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
The technology has changed quite a bit from 5 years ago.
If you do decide to get a new machine, you can always keep the older one as a backup.
Just make sure your new machine is fully data-capable so that you can take advantage of the data management software, one example is "Sleepyhead," which is very helpful, so you can keep track of how your apnea is being treated. Hang in there for more answers to your questions.
Good luck to you.

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Tech has changed quite a bit. When I got my first machine several years back CPAP was it, unless you were in a small group with BiPAP. I don't recall very many auto units being prescribed at all.

My S8 was a great unit for a fixed pressure, non-reporting unit (it had some data capabilities, but required a special reader and plug in the machine directly into the PC, IIRC. I never tried it.)

It started making noises on the cool down cycle and had a funny, slightly toasted odor when I finally gave it up a few months back in favor of a newly prescribed Autoset S9. Huge difference. From what I hear, huge difference fromt he S8 Auto, from a sensor/programming/pressure algorithm standpoint.

Data download capability, while I don't consider it a MUST have for effective therapy, is very much a great feature to have, particularly when adjusting pressures, fitting a new mask, or troubleshooting problems. Also gives me some great insight as to my sleep patterns.

If insurance is paying, don't think twice. Get a new machine and keep the old one for backup. Note - insurance may require a new sleep study if it has been more than 5 years. Yes, we have to spend $2,800 for a study to prove you need a $1,000 therapy machine.

OMyMyOHellYes

[Mark Risley]

Be a responsible user of the health care system. If your unit is providing good sleep and your condition is being treated effectively, you don't need to waste the dollars of your health care system to get a machine to tell you what you already know. don't waste money from a health provider. It is a privilege to have good coverage, not an entitlement.

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Be a responsible user of the health care system. If your unit is providing good sleep and your condition is being treated effectively, you don't need to waste the dollars of your health care system to get a machine to tell you what you already know. don't waste money from a health provider. It is a privilege to have good coverage, not an entitlement.

I understand your point, and agree with it at a certain level, but not entirely.

Healthcare is not an entitlement. But if I have contracted with an insurance provider, and paid the premium, then I am contractually entitled to receive healthcare benefits under that policy.

And there is something to be said for proactively, pursing preventive measures before they are needed, including replacement before total failure of equipment.

These machines wear out. Somewhere around or past five years. Airplane engines wear out. In the case of a tiny Continental 65hp, the engine must be removed, torn apart and rebuilt to spec tolerances every 1800 hours, even if it is working fine. Just because. Well, because it's to the point where it is likely that stuff inside is probably reaching the point of starting to reach or exceed wear tolerances. Same for almost all AC engines, just different intervals.

And I kind of see this the same way. My old S8 did make it for 17,868 hours, roughly 2,200-2,500 nights, or between 6-7 years. It had started to whine on cool down and had a very slight toasted odor coming form the motor when I replaced it. I kept it as a backup, but when I pulled it down and plugged it in after a rest on the shelf for a couple months, it would never come back on. Had I waited until it died to replace it, I would have been without PAP therapy for up to a month: a week to get into see the doctor, a few days figuring out insurance coverage and pre certifications, another week to get a slot at the sleep center, and then a week to get results back from sleep center to doctor to writing a script to getting script to DME who then has to go through the insurance dance for a day or two to make sure they will get paid and then, finally, getting fitted with a new machine.

Also, total dollars spent by waiting 7 years is exactly what I or insurance would have spent had I replaced it at five, but I would have had the benefits the new machine offers for two more years; and redundancy if the primary had to go out for service or replacement. I may not have had to have a second full sleep study if I had pushed just before the five year mark (which would have saved insurance company almost $3,000). Insurance insisted that since my sleep study was over five years old it was no longer valid. So they stupidly spent almost $3,000 to justify buying a $1,000 appliance. OK - arguably for most folks, they may need a new titration. (Probably not for most folks on this list as they are proactive in monitoring and adjusting their pressures.)

OMyMy

[SuperSleeper]

It is a privilege to have good coverage, not an entitlement.

I'm a hard-core Constitutionalist and conservative libertarian, so understand that I agree that there are too many so-callled "entitlements" in this nation.

I think what most politicians call "entitlement benefits" are not entitlements at all - but rather outright theft of taxpayer monies that are redistributed to people who did nothing to earn that benefit. A true entitlement is one that a person is entitled to because they have paid for it themselves under an existing contractual agreement - either with an insurance company or with the governmental health care system.

That said, if one has paid health insurance premiums - either privately for years or via them taking out Medicare taxes out of one's paycheck for years, I'd say that one is indeed "entitled" to what are the allowable benefits under that system - that's what we have been paying for all along. And a 5-year replacement schedule for a new CPAP is currently the allowable time period for replacement of the machine - in both Medicare and most private health insurance policies.

I will say that I believe the advances of modern CPAP machines during the past 5 years have been great, and the results are much better than using a 5-year-old machine, in all areas, including compliance, comfort and effectiveness of treatment.

I would encourage ddueck to get a new CPAP machine to replace the 5-year old one, especially if ddueck has paid into Medicare or a health insurance system for years. Getting the proper data-capable machine is important also. ddueck - please read Archangle's article on Machine Choices, here:

http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...ne_Choices

[jgjones1972]

My advice:

Get a new machine, preferably a data capable auto (like PRS1 Auto or ResMed AutoSet). Download ResScan and/or Sleepy Head and keep an eye on things.

Keep the current machine as a spare, ready to go if something happens to the new one (many a machine has been jerked from a nightstand and ruined by humidifier water).

Who knows, your current machine might be good for 5 more years of continuous use - and I might be able to get 500,000 miles out of my car; but, I'm not going to drive it cross country, through a desert with that many miles.

Good insurance is not a "privilege" - it is a product that was purchased. The insurance company knows that the machine you have wasn't really meant to last for much longer than 5 years of solid use, that's why they have a replacement schedule. Why should you deprive yourself of the best reasonable treatment when premiums have been paid to prevent you from being deprived of the best reasonable treatment?

That's just my 2 cents.

[drcmr]

Personally I say your health comes first. Don't try to rationalize it. If you have the resources available be all means USE THEM! The possibility is the new machine will help you and and extend your life this to me is priceless. I got a new machine for free with one durable medical equipment company just because I had not had a new one in two years (it had actually been nine, I knew no better). I also came to the realization my current DME was awful as they refused to even check the machine. They said one day it would stop working and then I could get a new one.

[trish6hundred]

Hi drcmr,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
I agree with you, glad you were able to get a new machine.

[ldywthatt]

I purchased a CPAP machine (Respironics Remstar) five years ago after a full sleep test. It is still working fine although I am starting to replace little things as ongoing maintenance requires.

My health insurance allows me to purchase a new unit after five years. Has the technology changed enough to be looking into a new unit? I notice that the newer units all have software readable on my computer. Is this helpful?

I am curious as to individual's opinions.

I work in a DME billing department, and it depends on your insurance, if it will just "be replaced" alot of them are now asking for documentation that the equipment is not able to be repaired, or the cost of repair is MORE than a new unit would be. (we are talking the insurances allowed amount on the repair costs, not what the DME vendor is billing).