3-24-06
Cresscare Medical keeps in constant contact with your patients to assure adequate compliance. A patient is considered compliant at Cresscare Medical when their cpap is used at least FIVE hours per night. To help meet our goal all our patient instruction is performed by a Respiratory Therapist. The Respiratory Therapist contacts the patient within 24 to 48 hours to assure the therapy is going well. After this the patient is contacted at 3 weeks, 2 months, 6 months, and annually to get the hours used and assess their sleep hygiene. Any problems are immediately resolved by working with the patient and the referring sleep facility.
The referring physician and the patient’s primary care physician are faxed reports that reflect the hours used and the patient’s progress. Cresscare Medical also faxes assessments pertaining to any help we give a patient such as mask refit, reeducation of humidification settings, use of ramp, etc. so you know every step in the patient’s therapy progression. We strive to maintain 80% compliance with our entire cpap patient population. If you have any questions regarding our cpap program please give us a call and we will be happy to answer any questions. If your patient’s can not sleep, neither can we.
EXPERTS ON SLEEP
BIPAP AUTO-TITRATION PROGRAM
CressCare Medical’s goal is successful therapy for all of our sleep apnea patients. CressCare Medical recognizes some patients may have a difficult time adjusting to high cpap therapy pressures and thus give up on the treatment. If high cpap pressures are a problem then the BIPAP AUTO-TITRATION PROGRAM will allow the patient to use a bipap unit that will automatically adjust the IPAP and EPAP pressures within a prescribed range for a two week period and the unit may then be downloaded showing the required IPAP and EPAP therapy pressures. If it is a successful trial and a fixed IPAP and EPAP are prescribed the patient can stay on the same unit as the settings can simply be changed.
As always, we must follow insurance guidelines when switching from a cpap to a bipap unit. In order for this to be approved through any insurance, the patient must have tried and failed cpap during the sleep study or trying cpap therapy at home. Documentation that the patient tried and failed cpap must be written on the new bipap prescription. The patient’s cpap must also be in the rental phase and not already purchased by the insurance company.
BIPAP AUTO-TITRATION PROGRAM GUIDELINE
- Patient tried and failed cpap therapy during the sleep study OR using cpap at home after the sleep study.
- Call or fax CressCare Medical a prescription for the BIPAP AUTO-TITRATION PROGRAM with desired IPAP/EPAP pressure ranges.
- After 2 weeks download will be faxed to prescribing physician.
- Fax prescription for fixed bipap pressures to CressCare Medical. Patient failed cpap MUST be written on prescription.
- CressCare Medical will verify all insurance coverage for a new bipap unit.
- CressCare Medical will program the new settings into the unit.
Please contact CressCare Medical @ Harrisburg 717-671-5922, Carlisle 717-241-4441, or Wyomissing 610-236-9600 if you have any questions about our program or if you have a non-compliant cpap patient……we can help!
What’s New for Referral Sources
CressCare Medical continually works with your patients to assure CPAP therapy success. It is very important that CressCare Medical communicates any problems that a patient is having to his/her physician. When the patient comes into your office for a follow-up this information will be very informative. To help this communication take place the following Mask Assessment form will be used. If you have any questions regarding the status of a patient or what CressCare Medical has done to help just give us a call. If your patients can not sleep, neither can we!
Click here for the Mask Assessment Form
