OT(?) -- Qualifications/Requirements to Sell CPAP Equipment

[hyperlexis]

Does anyone know off hand what qualifications/regulations affect the sale of CPAP equipment?

I have been talking with a physician friend of mine about possibly selling/re-selling new and used CPAP and related equipment over the internet or at a brick and mortar store (no other DME, just CPAP stuff), but I don't know what's involved regarding federal or state regulations. I assume you would need to collect prescriptions for items, but are there any specific regulations that discuss the exact details of what has to be done and how?

Also, if you would refer customers to a local sleep center or respiratory therapist to do testing, could you pay a referral fee to them? Or them to you?

Seems like a very regulation intensive industry, and I would want to do anything, if I do anything at all, by the book.

Any experts out there who can advise?

[chunkyfrog]

You need to contact an attorney on that matter.
Local regs may come into play. You need to cover your hiney really good.

[nanwilson]

Your expert would be a lawyer as CF stated. This forum is hosted by cpap.com, I don't think they would think kindly to anyone here giving you any other information. You have a ton of hoops to jump through to start up a business of your own, let alone where to obtain product....you have alot of homework to do, and if you don't do your own homework, your business will never survive.

[MidnightOwl]

I don't think you need to worry about making cpap.com feel threatened. Since they don't feel the need to prohibit discussion of actual competitors I really doubt they'd worry about hypothetical ones.

Especially any hypothetical ones that thought that an internet forum was a viable place to get reliable "how to" information. This is an incredibly regulated field. You will need to look into both federal regulations (FDA perhaps more) and individual state ones. And not just the rules that you find on websites but the case law on how those rules have actually been interpreted. This is where the lawyer (specialist lawyer at that) comes into play.

However I kind of hope you do get answers since I think a better general understanding of how this industry works would be useful for all of us.

[LSAT]

I would think you would need liability insurance to protect yourself against selling a used product that does damage to someone. New products would be the responsibility of the manufacterer.

[BlackSpinner]

Does anyone know off hand what qualifications/regulations affect the sale of CPAP equipment?

Your state or county or city probably has a business development office. Go to your local library and ask for the directories of all the business groups in your area. You will be amazed at what they have on their shelves. You could also try your local community college that gives business courses and/or health care training.

[Julie]

And I believe it's usual for patients to be referred by their doctors for sleep studies, not the dealers who want to sell them equipment - bit of a conflict of interest there I think .