Just given a Phillips Dreamstation 2 the same day Phillips agrees to stop selling

[Montacute]

Thanks a bunch!  I am definitely going to hold their feet to the fire.  What do you like better about the Resmed 10?  Also, do people generally take these machines when they travel, or do they buy a separate, smaller travel CPAP?

[SarcasticDave94]

The 10 has been out longer. There's some indication the 11 may have a slightly different blower from the travel CPAP.

Myself, I took my standard ResMed ASV with me. Travel units can be OK, however one fairly frequent complaint is travel units being noisy.

[Deborah K.]

I agree that the ResMed AirSense 10 is the better machine. That's the one I would request.

[Montacute]

Thanks both of you!

[Sleeprider]

The decision of whether to dispense a device as a rental (13 months with ownership converting to the patient at end of term) or as a sale is up to the insurance company. DMEs like rentals, because it results in more revenue and control. Insurance may specify rental in case a patient is not compliant, the device can be repossessed and resold. You have to ask the insurance company if they specify rental, and if not, then you end up telling your DME insurance does not require a rental, please make this a sale under agreed terms with insurer. Medicare does rentals, most private insurers are 50/50. It's easier to cut a single check, and claims do not carry-over to a second year resulting in the patient having two years of deductible and copay apply...why do you think rentals are 13 months?

[Montacute]

OK, here is today's update.  They sent a driver to get the Philips machine.  He would not give me a receipt but said I could take a picture, so I did.  My doctor e-mailed me a new prescription, but said he had written the last one for the airsense 11 auto!!!  It did not say Resmed, as I remembered, but I was still too new to understand that the Airsense 11 was a specific machine.  Sure enough, the prescription I had said that, listed under pressure.  Good lesson to always double check your records.  So, Integrated giving me a Philips unit is so much worse than I even thought.  They violated the doctor's prescription and gave me a Phiiips!!  I still don't have my Resmed.  Today, neither I nor Avmed can connect to customer service.  It is just silence--not even the waiting music comes on.  I found a phone directory and called the Director of DME.  Answering machine of course, but I left a message.  It also had e-mails so e-mailed the 3 people that were listed as Director, Manager and Supervisor for DME.  I e-mailed a copy of my complaint, changed to say Integrated violated my doctor's order to unload a Philips machine on me.  I also demanded my Resmed today so my treatment was not any more delayed by them than it already was.  I am trying to think of who else I could send my complaint to, because this really seems nefarious.  They ignored my doctor's prescription!!!  I still can't quite get over that.

One piece of good news per Avmed--yes, I am renting the machine, but the cost is a one time payment of $50 and this covers all supplies too for the "duration of illness incident".  Renting seems better in this case because if something goes wrong with the unit or it stops working, it is on them to get me another.  I am very blessed with truly excellent medical insurance because my husband works at a hospital.

[djont57]

Thanks for sharing your "journey"; it's been a real eye opener into just how bad DMEs can be!

[Montacute]

Glad to know you are finding it helpful!   I'm happy I can contribute here, even though the situation has been a real pain to deal with.  Sharing experiences arms us all with knowledge.

[Montacute]

Integrated is trying to drive me over the edge. I got someone on the phone finally and said my doctor's prescription specifies the Autosense 11 Auto. They looked it up and now their line is "We need a letter of medical necessity from your dr. to get you a Resmed" MY GOooooooooooOOooooddddd!!!! What is next? It has to be delivered on a full moon??? I asked what right they had to send a Philips when the prescription was for a Resmed and they said they will send whatever they have in the warehouse rather than order a machine. How can they possibly get away with this?

[BoxcarPete]

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is precisely why I never set foot into the DME office after the first time they told me I needed a CPAP but couldn't try on any masks in person "because COVID." I turned on my heel and never looked in their direction again. Why would I, when a brand new AS10 card-to-cloud machine is available for under $400, for me to own, with no compliance hoops to jump through, and the machine that they dispense at their choice through my insurance is a "rental" for which I pay an unknown amount specified by my insurance company weeks after the fact that counts toward my deductible.