Does anybody send their SD card to DME?

[SleepyHound]

It's been a few weeks since I got the equipment, so I thought I'd scope out my stats on my own with help from you guys. But I wanted to know if any of you "send your SD card in" to the DME so they can provide the doc with the info before the first follow up?" Do your sleep docs know you monitor your progress at home? I've never met the sleep doc, and I'm supposed to make a follow up appt for the end of June to see him. My only reference to anyone who knows him was the RRT at the DME and I'm not sure what to make of half the things she told me when I met with her. She was the one that said my doc never has his patients use the Resmed and that he didn't have the software to get the data. (We all know how that all went down....in my last post LOL)

So I was just wondering what you all do and how your relationship is with your docs. I've had some good luck with all my specialists treating me like a competent being once they know I am a capable medical person...but there are some personalities that ya just can't crack into!

[W_HAMILTON]

I wondered about this as well.

My DME did not tell me that I need to send the card in.

During the follow-up after my sleep study, I specifically asked the person that explained the results to me (it wasn't the same sleep doctor) if I should bring in my memory card at the six-week follow-up appointment after I began CPAP treatment. He told me, no, because he could tell how things were going just by me explaining to him how I was doing. This seemed strange, but I said okay...

Later, I called the sleep doctor's office and I double checked to see if I should bring the memory card for the follow-up appointment, and they basically said, "sure, if you want."

I plan to take it, but it seems as though I'm the only one considering it important

[jimnsc]

I have a good relationship with my sleep doc. He was extremely pleased that I bought an auto CPAP machine and the software package for it. Here's (for example) what I do - I pull reports and save them. I can then attach them to an email and email the report(s) to his office. He knows I am compliant and I Own the machine outright so nothing has to be proven to insurance carriers - in my case Medicare. After our first meeting he gave me the latitude to switch from CPAP to APAP and we agreed upon a high and low range.

The key is to form a good working relationship, convince him/her you're serious about your treatment and stick with it. I am to see him in October and he says if all is well and I'm comfortable with my treatment I could see him once a year if I didn't need him before, I thought that was pretty decent.

I'm not familiar with Resmed machines so I don't know if yours is data capable or not but some pros on here will know. Good luck.

[chunkyfrog]

No, but sleep doc's nurse wants me to fax a couple weeks worth of summary data.
(in response to a question I posed.)

[archangle]

The VA used to have my dad mail in his Respironics smart card periodically. They'd check it, adjust his settings and mail it back to him.

[SleepyHound]

Thanks for the responses so far. Yeah, the DMEs that I have dealt with are not keen on patients having access to their data, so with this DME, I didn't even bring up the issue. But she was very clear on having to send the SD card to DME so that they could get the data to the doctor. It's like there's secretive CIA-classified info on that card that I am to blindly deliver without questioning the contents. LOL

[LinkC]

My sleep doc was delighted when I took an interest in my data/therapy. My first visit, I went by the DME just prior to my Dr. appt and they read my card and faxed it to the Dr. Since then, I've been printing the report and taking it with me. (Less hassle than going to the DME...not to mention that I con't use that DME anymore! lol)

I don't understand why some docs discourage it. Insecurity, I guess. If I encountered that attitude, I'd be looking for a new doc, I think.

[LaurieP]

I have met with the DME once and I see her again on Tuesday PM but I have an appointment with the sleep doc Tuesday morning. I think I'm going to take reports with me to the sleep doctors that I have been looking at every other day with the help from a great person here. When I did meet the DME two weeks ago, I took my disc and she downloaded it but had nothing to say...no help!!!! I want the doctor to know that I'm serious about this treatment and very involved. I really don't think she will be upset and if she is I will found someone else.

Laurie

[archangle]

By the way, DMEs usually erase all your data from the card when they get their hands on it.

[Jaylee]

My DME will call and ask me to send it to her. She sends me a new one first, then off the old one goes. I do not really have any DME hatred like a lot of people on here do. I figure she is doing her job. I could care less what she does with my data. I do not have a card reader anyway, although I do track my AHI for the week. My machine isn't that fancy so I can't get details like some people do. I try to minimize the hostility between the DME and myself. I also like my sleep doctor.

[happysleeper]

I would not trust my data card in the mail...might loose it, and I want to keep collecting data every night, so I wouldn't want to part with it for the time it would take to mail it. But I do have to download the data with the DME company before I see my sleep doc--I think it's the way that the sleep doc's office avoids spending the computer time to download data...and keeps the DME companies looking useful to the insurance companies. The DME company charges the insurance company for the download service. Nice little scratching of backs there.

So...before my sleep doc appointment I download all my data into my laptop computer program. Then I drive the little data card over to the DME company and let them download all they like. Yes, they typically do wipe the card, but I still have the data for my own reference. They send the data off to the sleep doc.

If I have discovered any trends or issues that I want to address with my sleep doc, I print off my own reports for him based on my observations about my issue. My sleep doc loves this, as typically he only gets two summaries from the DME company; an average of all data over the past year, and an average of the last week. Sometimes these pictures don't address my particular issues.

I think I've figured out how to keep all happy and informed, including, most importantly, myself!

[Komodo]

I've had two different DME's, and neither one ever sent data to my doctor.
They only asked me to send in the data card one time (each) about 30 days after recieving my machine, to prove compliance, so they could get paid from the insurance company.

Every time I go to my doc, I print out a report, and bring it with me.

[napstress]

Doesn't the information get transmitted to the DME through the modem?

[cflame1]

Doesn't the information get transmitted to the DME through the modem?

Not everybody has a modem... or wants a modem

Plus all the DME's are usually concerned with is compliance.

[gasp]

It's been a few weeks since I got the equipment, so I thought I'd scope out my stats on my own with help from you guys. But I wanted to know if any of you "send your SD card in" to the DME so they can provide the doc with the info before the first follow up?" Do your sleep docs know you monitor your progress at home? I've never met the sleep doc, and I'm supposed to make a follow up appt for the end of June to see him. My only reference to anyone who knows him was the RRT at the DME and I'm not sure what to make of half the things she told me when I met with her. She was the one that said my doc never has his patients use the Resmed and that he didn't have the software to get the data. (We all know how that all went down....in my last post LOL)

So I was just wondering what you all do and how your relationship is with your docs. I've had some good luck with all my specialists treating me like a competent being once they know I am a capable medical person...but there are some personalities that ya just can't crack into!

So did you send it in? Do you have an extra card to use while the other is snailing through the mail service?