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SleepySandy · Post by **SleepySandy** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 3:06 pm

mth712 wrote:I think what Jules is saying is my insurance is buying the Pro and since it is so new it is in the 3 month rent to own period therefor it really isn't mine yet.

Since your Pro is being rented and you want an Auto, can you exchange your machine at your DME?

My new DME told me that the rental money they collect goes towards the purchase of any machine from them. So, if I rent machine A for a month and change to machine B, the rent from machine A is applied to the purchase price for machine B.

I don't know if all DMEs work this way and I don't know how hard it would be for you to get an Auto from your DME but it might be worth exploring before your insurance has actually purchased your machine.

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 3:12 pm

SleepySandy wrote:
mth712 wrote:I think what Jules is saying is my insurance is buying the Pro and since it is so new it is in the 3 month rent to own period therefor it really isn't mine yet.
Since your Pro is being rented and you want an Auto, can you exchange your machine at your DME?

My new DME told me that the rental money they collect goes towards the purchase of any machine from them. So, if I rent machine A for a month and change to machine B, the rent from machine A is applied to the purchase price for machine B.

I don't know if all DMEs work this way and I don't know how hard it would be for you to get an Auto from your DME but it might be worth exploring before your insurance has actually purchased your machine.

Sandy,

I THINK he went through BILLMYINSURANCE.COM for his machine.

mth712,

You'd have to call them to see what they'll do....or not.

Good luck,

Den

blowfish · Post by **blowfish** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 3:23 pm

SleepySandy · Post by **SleepySandy** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 3:30 pm

So, does billmyinsurance.com not do the rental like brick-and-mortar DMEs?

I mean can you return the Pro to billmyinsurance.com and get an Auto?

blowfish · Post by **blowfish** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 3:38 pm

blowfish · Post by **blowfish** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 11:12 am

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 11:23 am

I don't know what month you are in or how many months you copay reflects but if you are still in rental period ... just stop rent-to-buy and send the machine back. Then go buy yourself an APAP out of pocket.

... Or you can be happy you have a CPAP that is capable of giving you efficacy data and go from there ... as Den said, "save your coins" and get an APAP in the future if you still need/want one and keep your CPAP for backup/travel machine or whatever.

blowfish · Post by **blowfish** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 11:34 am

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 11:40 am

Depending on what your settings are (pressure and C-Flex), you MAY be able to get around some of the problems you're experiencing with aerophagia.
If you'd like to tell us what those settings are, some suggestions may be offered.

Den

blowfish · Post by **blowfish** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:43 pm

blowfish · Post by **blowfish** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:49 pm

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:22 pm

Mike -

An absolutely distressing and touching story. I feel for you. You definitely need to find a different doctor. It is very upsetting to hear how our veterans are treated and I wish you the very best.

Yes NREM = non-rem.

I do hope that you have the patience to continue to visit here, for there are some great people here willing to help you in any way they can ... especially from a techincal and supportive perspective.

Take care,

- Roberto

blowfish · Post by **blowfish** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:33 pm

SleepySandy · Post by **SleepySandy** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:41 pm

Hi Mike,

That's just horrible. I'm very sorry for you and I hope some of the advice you get here will help you get better treatment.

I have a bunch of things to tell you and I hope you'll wade through my post because I'm hoping one or two of my thoughts will help you.

First, I'm shocked billmyinsurance.com won't take the CPAP back during the rental period. That's the whole point of the rental period. However, since they won't take it back, I would keep the Pro and use it. I had a Pro for 4 months and it worked very well for me. Do you have EncorePro? If not, definitely get it. Cpap.com sells it. That's how you can monitor your therapy and make changes to make it better. You can post your reports here and others can give you advice about your results.

I can't imagine you can get another sleep study so soon, but I'm going to ask this question anyway - was your sleep center accredited? Some folks here don't think it's important, but I do. To become accredited, labs must meet certain standards. I don't know if a proper bed instead of a futon is one of them, but I hope it is. Here are the standards from the website:

Standards that the facilities have to meet in order to receive accreditation from the AASM include:
- Their medical director must be a physician who has been licensed by the state. He or she must have a proven expertise in sleep disorders medicine. This person is in charge of the overall patient care for the program.
  
  They must have on staff a sleep specialist who has been certified by the American Board of Sleep Medicine. Also known as a Diplomate of the ABSM, he or she must have an MD, DO or PhD degree with a doctoral specialty in a health-related field. His or her job will be to certify the results of all sleep studies and train the technical staff. He or she needs one year of full-time training in clinical sleep disorders or equivalent. His or her experience must include the evaluation of at least 400 patients. A center always must have a specialist on its staff. In contrast, a laboratory may have a pulmonologist (lung specialist) with expertise in sleep medicine.
  
  Their testing rooms must provide for the privacy, comfort and security of patients.
  
  All staff must continue to take classes on an annual basis. This will further their working knowledge of current technology and procedures.
  
  All fees and billing must comply with both federal and state regulations.
  
  They have to adhere to all federal, state, and local regulations for the operation of a medical practice.
  
  They also must follow the American Medical Association’s “Code of Medical Ethics.”

This is the link to find the list of accredited labs: http://www.sleepcenters.org/index.aspx

Is your sleep doc board certified? It's along the same lines - a board certified sleep doc *should* know more about sleep disorders than one who is not. However, just because a sleep doc is board certified doesn't mean (s)he will be good. My first sleep doc was board certified and I have nothing nice to say about him.

I do imagine your insurance would allow you to change sleep docs. When I changed docs I made the appointment saying I wanted a second opinion with the possibility of changing to the sleep doc. They scheduled me like a new patient but it made me feel better knowing I wasn't committed to the doctor if I didn't like him. Before my appointment I got copies of all of my records from my first sleep doc - by law they are required to give them to you. I carried those records to my second-opinion appointment with him. You can find the list of board certified sleep docs here: http://www.absm.org/Diplomates/listing.htm but the list is by last name rather than state. I pulled the list into an Excel file about 6 weeks ago. If you PM me your state and e-mail address I can send you the list of docs in your state.

With a pressure of 15 do you have trouble exhaling? If you do have trouble exhaling, I wonder if a bi-level would work better for you. That's another reason you might not want to get the Auto just yet. A bi-level is much more expensive but might provide better exhalation relief. There are others here who can better educate you on bi-levels than I can. The thing I do know is your prescription must specify a bi-level.

mth712 wrote:Oh my big reason for wanting the APAP is I wake up full of air like I am going to pop and pass gas for an hour and I read that APAPs may help with this

That's aerophagia and is not uncommon. How long have you been at a pressure of 15? I had horrible aerophagia for a couple of weeks. It seemed like over time my body got used to things and the aerophagia stopped.

That's all I can think of for now. PM me if you want the sleep doc list.

Sandy