Physio vest advice please

[anonymous]

Hello,

I'm a mother to a lpwcf aged 14 months. We have been looking into buying our daughter a physio vest as they have only just become available in UK. However, it will cost us £11,500 so we wanted to be really sure that she would gain some benefit from having one. Could you please advise as to whether these are worth the money. We do not have a medical insurance system over here so would have to fund this ourselves.

Many thanks

Luise

 

[anonymous]

They're worth it, but:
a) there is more than one manufacturer out here in the U.S. and it seems like you could buy directly from anyone if you were paying the bill
b) there is some sort of price-fixing lawsuit going on with Hill-Rom for their vest
c) there are several threads on this website about vests and a bunch of forum users with lots of experience and advice

 

[anonymous]

We love the vest for our children. The Hillrom is close to $16,000 but the respirtech is around $12, 500. Their link is <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.respirtech.com/">http://www.respirtech.com/</a>
Our insurance will only pay for $2,500 for a vest for my son and we hope to buy one for him next year so I share you pain of having to pay for it out of pocket.
Sharon, mom of Sophia, 4 and Jack, 2 both with cf

 

[anonymous]

Check with Hill-rom about <i>The Vest</i>. I know they are in a lawsuit about price fixing, but I think that is with hosipital beds or something like that. When I talked to Hill-ron about getting one for my daughter, they seemed eager to work with people. I got the impression their first goal was to get this product to CFers because it really works. Secondly, they get paid. That maybe the wrong impression as I did have insurance. But call and talk and explain your problem.

One note about Hill-rom, they have a life-time warranty. They will also send you, free of charge, new vests as the patient out grows the current one. At least that is what we were told.

 

[anonymous]

Thank you all so much for your replies. It is always useful to hear from other people before committing to something first. I will check out the other threads on the vest.

Cheers

Luise <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif" border="0">

 

[Alyssa]

I second the info on Hill-Rom -- don't worry about the price fixing stuff -- most all the companies are charging roughly the same amount. Hill-Rom does care about placing the unit in the home first. They just gave us a brand new one last month and they have not billed our insurance yet. They told me that if they have a problem with getting it paid for not to worry -- let them do the fighting of the appeals. He (the sales rep) told me about a person in Oregon who had the vest for 6 years of fighting with the insurance company. After the final denial, Hill-Rom told the patient to just keep the unit, free of charge. Other people have commented about their excellent customer service and how if they ever had any problems Hill-Rom always over nighted a new machine or vest for them, no questions asked.

Having said that... paying out of pocket instead of insurance coverage, check with Hill-Rom and the other companies about their policy for buying last years models, you could easily save $10,000. They take them back and refurbish them, you may even get one for free.

Also check ebay.com they show up on there once in a while for less than $1000. (again usually one model back)

Here are the three websites I know of for three different companies:

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.respirtech.com/product.htm
">http://www.respirtech.com/product.htm
</a>
<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.electromed-usa.com/index.html
">http://www.electromed-usa.com/index.html
</a>
<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.thevest.com/
">http://www.thevest.com/
</a>
To answer your question about are they worth it -- my daughter really loves hers. The doctor says they cannot really say they work any better than any other method, it's just a matter of compliance -- what will they get done/use more often? They sure are nice to have, I know that!. I cannot say we would go out and buy a new one without insurance coverage, but I was looking into buying a used one for $1000. if they don't cover the new one. If you cannot get a vest you could also look into the hand held vibrators -- we have one of those, I think it's called vibracare. It was $500 new. When we got it we were thrilled because it was easier than manual chest PT -- now we are thrilled with how much easier the vest is than the vibrater

 

[Kaitsmom]

When Kait got the new model, hillrom told us that they take the old one back, refurbish it and send it out to others who can't get a vest for several reasons. I think the vest is the best thing.... Kait normally does her vest 3 times a day and when she is sick or getting sick we bump it up to 4 times daily. In the summer she is more active, so she normally does the vest 2 times a day. Kait is now almost 10 years old and her CT showed that her lungs are still pretty healthy ane her PFT's are normally at 105-114%. I hope that you do get a vest and i would agree with the others .... contact Hillrom,they are really good about sending one out right away.

Kaitsmom<img src="i/expressions/rose.gif" border="0">

 

[skh]

My daughter is 15 and has been using the vest for the past 4 yrs. She was only diagnosed when she was 11. We are so thankful for the vest. It gives her the independence to do her own treatments (although when she does her evening treatment I am always with her - that has become "our time") and at the age she is at she appreciates that. She just had a CF appt. 2 weeks ago and her PFT's were 126. So, yes I think the vest is worth.

HillRom really worked with us 4 yrs. ago to get Abby started with the vest even though our insurance denied her for the vest. And last summer for some reason the machine malfuntioned and the overnighted another one to us. I thought that was awesome.

I am now working on trying to get my daugther the newer, smaller model. Won't know about that for about another month or so.

Sue