PSA - Never let your DME tell you no. Know your rights/plan

[tierdal]

Hey I am pretty new to the boards and to Apnea/CPAP. Obviously this board has been a lifesaver. But I have not seen much in the way of DME discussion and I just want to let everyone know that your DME is probably horrid, staffed with incompotent/lazy people and/or actively trying to scam you.

Never buy ANYTHING out of pocket without following up with your insurance company.

Don't listen to them if they say "thats not available through us"

Don't listen to them if they try to tell you that you have "limited" amounts of retruns/exchanges (especially when fitting for your first mask/machine in the first month.

Don't let them tell you it will take weeks/months to send you equipment.

Just keep pushing them and asking to speak to a supervisor or call in again. 

These people, from my experience, are  legitimately the worst medical professionals I've ever dealt with in my entire life.

I don't know what the solution is - just never give up and don't believe anything they say.

[OpalRose]

Here, this should be helpful!

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

[SarcasticDave94]

"your DME is probably horrid, staffed with incompotent/lazy people and/or actively trying to scam you"

So that's where the politicians come from.

[tierdal]

"your DME is probably horrid, staffed with incompotent/lazy people and/or actively trying to scam you"

So that's where the politicians come from.

lol =0

[Hydrangea]

I totally agree.

My first DME was my sleep "doctor". Talk about the epitome of a scam!

I couldn't even bring myself to take a machine from them at my 1st get-your-CPAP visit, because it felt SO slimy and pimpy. They had me sit at their corded phone, and they dialed my insurance and gave me a sheet of paper with lines to read to say to my insurance. And they wanted me to sign many (at least 15) pages of signatures and initials of all the $ I would be paying. Now I've bought cars and houses, and none of them felt like I was literally signing away my life like I felt in this room with that phone and those papers. I told them I'd have to come back some other time.

That's when I went home and googled - I think that's when I found this site. And I called my insurance company (who seriously, is easy to deal with), and told them my situation. I asked "do you require compliance?" (NO! - my insurance doesn't, but the DME said yes), "Does this have to be a rental?" (Yes - I was actually surprised this was probably the one thing my DME didn't lie about.), etc.

I went back and did get a machine from that DME, but I knew my rights and my insurances rules. Suddenly there was no required phone conversation, and the signature/initial pages was only maybe 2 pages, and very streamlined and simplified.

At my 30 day check-up after "getting" my machine, my sleep "doctor" refused to care about ANY of my concerns about too low of pressure (5), no auto adjusting (he offered we could do the 30 day auto trial on my fixed CPAP machine), and rainout. Zero concern. So I handed my machine back to him and said I no longer wanted it. He refused to take it back. I said "It's a rental, right?" LOL He very reluctantly and unhappily took it back. And like that, I moved on with my life.

I found a different DME who was fan-freakin-tastic. And I haven't looked back!

[tierdal]

My doctors office was also awful.

Guy told me it would take 4 months to get a CPAP cause "paperwork" was slow.

So I called my insurance company and i got my CPAP 3 days later.

How do these people not get in trouble? Lose their license?

[Hydrangea]

Guy told me it would take 4 months to get a CPAP cause "paperwork" was slow.

So I called my insurance company and i got my CPAP 3 days later.

How do these people not get in trouble? Lose their license?

Right?!  "It's gonna take us 3 months to get you a life-saving device that we'll require you demonstrate compliance for in order for us to allow you to keep it."

[tierdal]

Guy told me it would take 4 months to get a CPAP cause "paperwork" was slow.

So I called my insurance company and i got my CPAP 3 days later.

How do these people not get in trouble? Lose their license?

Right?!  "It's gonna take us 3 months to get you a life-saving device that we'll require you demonstrate compliance for in order for us to allow you to keep it."

Dont get me started on the creepy spying on you crap =/

[GuyScharf]

Once you have an Rx, it can be extremely fast. But if you are going through the full cycle to determine whether you even have sleep apnea time gets stretched out -- make appt with doctor -- home sleep study -- long delay for study to reach doctor -- follow up appt -- overnight in-lab -- lab (slowly) sends report to doctor -- finally doctor gets it and writes a Rx -- but Rx isn't in the form DME wants it to meet Medicare requirement so Rx bounces back and forth a couple of times -- finally, an appointment with the DME to pick up the machine.

Try getting a power wheelchair paid for by Medicare. That's also a 3+ month process. Once you finally get Medicare approval, delivery happens pretty fast.

[SarcasticDave94]

Surprising how much time it takes to get the PAP machine when it's touted as necessary for good health.