Does Medicare require a new sleep study to replace an old CPAP machine?

Oly, rely on what your pulmonary physician advises. His/her staff are the ones who deal with Medicare and know what the requirements are.

Medicare's payment of DME supplies has changed drastically since Medicare mandated competitive bidding for DME equipment. I've been told by our former oxygen equipment supplier that many companies, especially small ones, have gone out of business.

Payment by Medicare has been refined and keyed to overnight tests, specific oxygen saturation rates, and is very, very specific. It was much harder to get oxygen this time than when we had it some years ago.

If you haven't had a sleep test in 10 years, and if you're gasping for air while wearing it, to me that's a good indication that a test is necessary one way or the other.

I don't know what the life of a CPAP is, but yours might be nearing the end of its usefulness.

Call your pulmonary doctor, ask him/her to have the staff arrange for a sleep study if that's what they're telling you is necessary.

Why don't you call your doctor?

as i said, some say, including my doctor, that i need the new study, but i'm sure i saw it on a medicare website that said it was no longer needed if i had already had the sleep studies in order to obtain my original cpap.

thanks for the answer and you're probably right, but i have found statements from reliable sources that state, according to medicare guidelines, the sleep study is not required for replacing a cpap over 5 years old.