Rx Required: ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet CPAP Machine with HumidAir (Card to Cloud Version) Expired

For those who want to take their CPAP machines on the road, this website (https://914gadgets.com/) sells the USB-C power cables. Before it was hassle for me to do hiking/camping with CPAP machine because I need to look for power outlet. Now a small portable battery will last 2-3 days for my AirMini on the road.

Oral appliances which can be effective for mild and moderate sleep apnea.

Positional therapy (look up the shark fin shirt) to keep you off your back. Also just inclining the head of your bed can also be effective.

Inspire which you've probably seen commercials for, is a hypoglossal nerve stimulator in which they implant the stimulator and battery into your chest, and a titration is done (I used to do these), and the voltage is adjusted. Most people couldn't tolerate the voltage required to control their sleep apnea. I still love this innovative alternative however.

UPPP surgery which is the highly invasive surgery where parts of your upper airway are surgically removed to expand the airway. I've also done sleep studies on patients who've gotten this and still had sleep apnea, most still requiring pap therapy.

CPAP is the golden standard in effectively treating sleep apnea, but these alternatives should definitely be considered if pap therapy is not feasible for you.

I paid $500 for this exact same unit from CPAP.com in April of this year. I spent months going back and forth with my insurance trying to get them to approve a replacement CPAP machine for my six year old Airsense 10 and it was an absolute pain in the ass. I bought the machine outright from CPAP.com for less than my deductible. For $200 this is an insane deal.

For insurance to approve this, I had to have both a prescription from my doctor, as well as a valid sleep study for the DME that my doctor's office worked with. The DME didn't want to accept the sleep study I had done six years prior because they wanted it done through a specific sleep program in town. The cost to do the study was going to be $1400 out of pocket. On top of this, I would have to pay the deductible to get a unit, and then would have to self-report data from the SD card to verify compliance.

Buying the machine outright only required a prescription. CPAP.com didn't care about my sleep study information. CPAP.com requested the prescription from my doctor, who then signed and faxed it over, and it was ordered in less than four days. Prior to this, I probably spent eight weeks going back and forth with my insurance. The machine is mine outright and I don't have to self report anything to insurance.

The only benefit I can think of for going through insurance would be to get supplies for "free" (after you meet deductible of course) but this ends once your new calendar year starts and the supplies can be stupid expensive. I now just buy masks, filers, hose, etc. either off Amazon or eBay out of pocket and it's still cheaper than meeting deductible each year.

This model is technically an "old" model since the Airsense 11 came out, but the Airsense 10 was brought back during COVID due to chip shortages. That's why this version is the "card to cloud" edition because the LTE modem had to be removed due to the shortage. There is no real benefit of the LTE card other than your data being available on the ResMed app, and it allows your compliance data to be automatically submitted.

Just FYI, the air pumps start going out around 20k hours on these and you'll get a warning on the display indicating this. 20k hours is around 6-7 years at eight hours of sleep per night, so I'd be very cautious buying used ones off Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, etc. The pump alone costs more than $200 and aftermarket ones are hit and miss. For $200, I'd almost consider buying another and keeping it in the box for 3-4 years down the road when my current one dies.

As far as analyzing sleep data, you should look into a software called Oscar [sleepfiles.com]. You can plug the SD card with your sleep information on it into your PC and it will show you ALL the info your healthcare provider will see. This was SUPER helpful for me to fix my leak rate on my old mask, and ultimately led me to getting a different mask that worked the best for me. This software will also help you configure your machine for YOU, not for whatever the DME thinks you need.