Here are all the CPAP machine and other CPAP products manufacturers I could find. If you have any others, let me know in the comments.
Looks like one of our favorite CPAP retailers, CPAP Mart, has discounts on Remstar M Series CPAP machines. In their CPAP Specials section, they have the Respironics DS200H and Respironics DS200HS CPAP machines, both part of the REMstar Plus M Series and with C-Flex and Heated Humidifier, for below the manufacturer’s advertised price. The DS200H is less than $809 (they’ll email you the price), and the DS200HS (which adds a SmartCard) is less than $849. I love it when stores have mysterious secret pricing!
Royal Philips Electronics NV, the company that bought Respironics for $5.1 billion a few months ago, is looking for even more health care companies to buy and add to its multi-faceted healthcare conglomerate. According to Forbes, earlier this month they bought Dixtal Biomedica e Technologia, a Brazilian firm, for an undisclosed sum, and they haven’t finished swallowing other companies whole.
The acquisition of Respironics for such a large sum shows that Philips is dead serious and can afford most of the medium firms out there. Already owning Respironics means Philips probably doesn’t need another CPAP machine company, though if their Respironics unit is threatened by the likes of ProBasics, Resmed, Puritan Bennet, or AEIOMed, perhaps with a new type of CPAP machine or an innovative CPAP mask, Philips may have to buy them to protect its investment.
Two CPAP Machines were donated to the Caledonia Area Ambulance Service (CAAS). The CPAP machines, which normally cost $600 apiece (CPAP machines at CPAP Mart can cost $595-$825 for Resmed CPAP machines and $670-$2180 for Respironics CPAP machines) were given to assist the paramedics in emergency situations, forcing air into the lungs when conventional CPR isn’t enough.
“The CPAP system increases the volume of oxygen forced into the lungs, opens up the capillaries, and dramatically improves breathing for a distressed patient,” Tornstrom continued. “With these units we can provide immediate medical treatment to a patient suffering from respiratory issues.”
The CAAS staff has undergone a four-hour training course on the use of the CPAP system, and has a unit in each of its two ambulances. With the portable oxygen tank the CAAS has, the CPAP units become portable and can be taken into homes, other buildings, and emergency situations.
A new study about Obstructive Sleep Apnea shows that sleep apnea patients sleep no differently in a hospital than a hotel. The study shows that there was no difference in sleep parameters between two groups of patients, one housed in a hotel, one in a hospital.
The study measured “sleep onset latency, sleep efficiency, REM sleep latency, total amount of slow wave sleep, and total stage 1 sleep“.
There is a growing trend of hotel-based sleep laboratories, but this study proves that there is no benefit to the patient of being housed in a hotel for a sleep apnea study. Patients with obstructed sleep apnea are so familiar with hospital settings, due to the chronic nature of the disease, that they do not feel any less comfortable sleeping in a hospital.
Of course, things are different for those of us with CPAP Machines. A CPAP machine user needs his machine in order to sleep properly at night, and not having that trusty Resmed equipment with a CPAP mask on your face does make a big difference. I don’t care how comfortable a hotel is, without a Respironics or other CPAP machine, I won’t be staying there!