as your doctor, I have no idea what to tell you, and not a whole lot of options,” Feinsilver says. “This was done very badly. I think anybody in the field would tell you that.”
The CPAP machine market is dominated by Philips Respironics and a San Diego-based medical device firm called ResMed, Feinsilver and Malhotra said.
“I have perhaps 1,000 patients on CPAP, probably a third to a half of whom are on Respironics machines,” Feinsilver says.
Plenty of CPAP machines are available from ResMed and other smaller companies, but patients will have to fork over as much as $1,000 if their insurance won’t cover the cost of a replacement device.
“You can buy one, with a prescription. But insurance isn’t going to pay for a second one unless the first one is at least five years old,” Feinsilver shares.
Sleep Apnea 101: Everything You Need To Know For A Better Sleep
Are there other strategies available?
Patients with mild to moderate sleep apnea might be able to try other strategies to improve their sleep, Malhotra says. They could raise the head of their bed, sleep on their side, or lose weight.
They also might consider being fitted with an oral device designed to maintain good breath during sleep.
“It moves the lower jaw forward during sleep,” Malhotra shares. “By doing that, that does bring the tongue and the soft tissue forward and opens up the airways during sleep.”
For his part, Feinsilver tells patients who can’t afford a new device to keep using their Philips machine until it is repaired or replaced.
He says the devices filter air upon intake, so he personally can’t figure out how particles or gases produced from foam located outside the blower would be inhaled by the patient.
“Everything in medicine is balancing risk and benefit. That’s always true,” Feinsilver adds. “And as far as I can tell, the risk of whatever the problem is with this machine is smaller than the risk of sleep apnea if you have significant sleep apnea.”
Malhotra agrees.
“If we feel the benefits of the machine outweigh the potential risk, then we recommend continuing the machine, which is the case in many cases if not most that we come across,” he says. “These patients are on a machine for a reason, and it’s really helped their quality of life and their health. It’s just not safe to come off of it, even with the risk that Philips is stating.”
For a complete list of the recalled devices, click here.