Coagucheck home testing

[lance]

Hi Bina

Hmmmm, so old paint has velvety lips, eh? OK, I'm going to be honest. I will never attempt to smooch a horse on the lips no matter how lushes they may be. I'd be afraid that the horse may bite off the whistle hanging from the draw strings of my Stetson!

Not only do meadow muffins make great fertilizer, they make even better Frisbees when dried out [it's hard to pick up a freshie], especially if a high fiber diet is part of the composition! Pure oats make the natural Frisbees explode on launch.

OK down to business, need a prescription from my Doc....check. Do the occasional parallel comparison against periodic lab results....check. The device comes in blue...check. Hey I'm catching on. Do you get a free hat or T when you drop the $500.00?

Funny, funny .............

No, they don't come with a free anything. However, keep all your receipts in a safe place because the costs are 100% tax deductible--at least here in Ontario they are.
AND
meadow muffins are "road apples" where I live. Two Canadian Sport horse mares and one part-bred Morgan pony.

Maybe the original poster has a few meadow muffin, road apple producing pals too.
Sandra

 

[bdryer]

I'm Busted.........

Now that you want a picture of me jockeying a thoroughbred down the streets of Cow town, terrifying the homeless pushing shopping buggies, I've got to admit something; Riding a critter thats 50 hands higher then me and is more endowed scares the sh_t out me! I have never had a good horse riding experience! I've skied a thousand plus days in some very extreme conditions, accomplished a 1000 sky dives, almost died during scuba but still love it, windsurfed in 80 plus km winds, crashed my bicycle more times then I can remember, on one occasion I woke up on a back board being loaded into an ambulance cycling, swam open water, worked as a bush pilot.....on and on, I think you get the picture. Get me within 10 meters of a horse my knees start shaking and I'm about ready to wet myself!

Any how, it's great to know that the device is 100% tax deductible. I'm sure if a hat or T was included the gov't would find some way to tax the freebie.

 

[Bina]

Bruce, you haven't lived until you have been on a horse galloping at full speed through the fields with the
wind blasting against your face, the thundering sound of hooves pounding the turf, and the sudden jolt back
to reality when you realize that the horse has now spooked and it's almost impossible to stop him ;-)
Lance and I need to strap you onto one of her babies.....better take along some BP meds.

So, the freebie from Roche might be the totally lovely travel kit, complete with poking pen. It's a beaut.
I did include the monitor on my income tax medical expenses, and the test strips are covered at 80% under
my husband's private insurance.
Go for it !!

 

[lance]

Hi Bruce
So you're implying you can't measure up to something 50 hands higher than yourself? I feel the same way but I thought we were discussing horses not elephants/mastadons/giraffes. Maybe everything is bigger out West like they say!
Meadow muffins and road apples, or was it meadow apples and road muffins, make excellent hockey pucks when frozen.
You will learn your XS will fit very nicely in your hand, it comes in any colour you want as long as it's blue and as Bina mentioned the carrying case and pen are included. My provincial government probably has found a way to tax freebies being they leave no stone unturned when it comes soaking us the latest being "smart meters". (frown)

AND

Where oh where is the original poster of this thread?

 

[Protimenow]

I'm glad we stayed to the original subject of this thread.

Bruce -- it seems, from all the dangerous stuff you've done in the past, you may get a thrill out of risking your life by NOT testing. THAT should be really exciting.

It's a risk that nobody on warfarin should take - and I'm glad to see that you're committed to getting a meter and self-testing.

It sounds like the Canadian health care is probably much more enlightened than the programs down south. Perhaps one day.....

 

[sweetmarie]

Great thread. I was looking into self testing but I live in a small town and can be back home in half hour. BUT lately the lab techs are having a hard time drawing blood from my mid arm. The other day it took three stabs (one in the top of my hand). Now I'm starting to think more about just a pick at the tip of my finger. When I mentioned this to my doc couple months ago, she frowned upon me, sort of like, "you're not serious, you're not going to rely on that", etc.
Well frankly. IMHO, I think they're just covering their job security here in Canada. Sorry if I offended anybody, .

 

[lance]

Hi Marie
Why home monitoring hasn't been accepted on a grand scale defies logic. Two years ago my spouse had a stent inserted and attended cardiac rehab where he was told by a pharmacist that "monitors weren't legal, were highly inaccurate and unreliable". Unfortunately I wasn't present to counter act the misinformation. However I did raise a ruckus when I heard about this even with the umbrella organization governing pharmacists. They were very cooperative.
Try googling for ISMAAP (International Society self-monitoring Anti-coagulated Patients and you will learn how wide-spread around the world home monitoring is and for how long and then tell your doctor. Why Canada remains in the dark ages I'll never understand. I think too many professionals don't understand the philosophy of warfarin themselves and feel no one else does or will either. I can't say enough in favour of the finger stick method. Every INR patient that wants one should have one. Labs aren't perfect.
Cheers

 

[yotphix]

Canada is not fully in the dark ages regarding this stuff. Sunnybrook hospital in Toronto has an ACT clinic each Thursday which maintains and monitors something like 500 patients if I recall, and they are using a coaguchek. (Though they do a blood draw if you are an inpatient. Funny, because a diabetic gets a bedside finger prick.) Also, I have a relative in Prince Edward County who is a public health nurse using the XS for an ACT clinic there.

 

[Protimenow]

Lance:

I'm in full agreement with your statement that 'Every INR patient that wants one (a meter for self-testing) should have one.' There's a large body of literature that confirms that people who self-test stay in range more often than those doing lab tests. Any doctor who actually still READS should be able to see this.

(Plus, having your own meter makes it a lot easier and more convenient for more frequent testing, which should only help monitor your own status and enable you to better stay in range)

Unless these doctors have financial interest in the labs (and many do), I can see no other reason (other than patient inability to do the test themselves) to oppose self-testing.

 

[yotphix]

"Unless these doctors have financial interest in the labs"

This could be a part of the problem in Canada as well. Labs are private and often owned by doctors. Also, because of our single payer socialized medical system, doctor's offices can get paid for drawing blood but there is no category yet for the meter. My doctor expressed a strong interest in my Coaguchek XS and I brought it in to show him, used it with him at the same time as a blood draw (for my own comparison and to show him how easy it is). Ultimately, it was hard for him to justify since there is no mechanism in place for him to be reimbursed for the machine, the strips or the time, even though he would like to because he can see it is better for the patients.
The problem here needs to be solved with a small tweek to the rules. The clinics I mentioned in an earlier post are funded from local community health funds and so provide their services free of charge.

 

[sweetmarie]

Just got back from my clinic. The lab tech gave me a tour of the lab and showed me the unit she uses for INR testing. It is a Siemens make, don't remember the model #. It uses a centrifugal system which then uses a light/spectrum beam to see through the spinned blood/plasma and then spits out the result.
I got better feedback today from the lab tech (who had to again try three times to stick me, not blaming her at all) but all the time I was thinking about just a little prick at the end of my finger. I spoke to my doc also and in more of an assertive tone and she thought that the unit would be around $2000.00 and when I told her it was about $500.00, she was very surprised and more convinced.
She told me that she would make me a prescription if I wanted to, yahoo!!!! She was concerned about my insurance coverage, I told her I'd take of that step. So really leaning toward the Coagucheck now.

 

[Bina]

Just got back from my clinic. The lab tech gave me a tour of the lab and showed me the unit she uses for INR testing. It is a Siemens make, don't remember the model #. It uses a centrifugal system which then uses a light/spectrum beam to see through the spinned blood/plasma and then spits out the result.
I got better feedback today from the lab tech (who had to again try three times to stick me, not blaming her at all) but all the time I was thinking about just a little prick at the end of my finger. I spoke to my doc also and in more of an assertive tone and she thought that the unit would be around $2000.00 and when I told her it was about $500.00, she was very surprised and more convinced.
She told me that she would make me a prescription if I wanted to, yahoo!!!! She was concerned about my insurance coverage, I told her I'd take of that step. So really leaning toward the Coagucheck now.

Funny, as you posted this, I was googling Siemens.....when my Mom was in ICU at the Montreal General, the first
thing we noticed was all the latest in medical equipment keeping her alive had the familiar Siemens brand on it.
My Dad and I looked at each other knowing that we could at least trust her equipment was the best.
Anyway,this was only to reference that European made medical equipment is worth the cost.
SM, get the RX, and call Roche, what are you waiting for?? LOL

 

[sweetmarie]

Only have one pharmacy in my "one horse town, but I love it here". Luckily they are officially listed on the Roche site as a distributor. Wonder if if would be cheaper direct? Today's a holiday, but tomorrow......

 

[Bina]

SM, Roche will deliver the monitor to your pharmacy, and then the pharmacist will train you on it. Same price.
YAY

 

[lance]

Canada is not fully in the dark ages regarding this stuff. Sunnybrook hospital in Toronto has an ACT clinic each Thursday which maintains and monitors something like 500 patients if I recall, and they are using a coaguchek. (Though they do a blood draw if you are an inpatient. Funny, because a diabetic gets a bedside finger prick.) Also, I have a relative in Prince Edward County who is a public health nurse using the XS for an ACT clinic there.

This is music to my ears--word is spreading.
Glad to learn of the clinics in PEC.
AND
Even if/when doctors own the clinics and want the business I can't understand why they would deny this useful tool to their patients. I assume they do the dose adjustments.

 

[Protimenow]

It's not just about using a useful tool -- it's about getting an immediate result that, if necessary, can get quick response or a warning to the patient. (Imagine, instead, the patient waiting to learn that an INR is dangerously high and encountering an avoidable event that causes severe bleeding, or a patient with an INR very close to 1.0 and no remedial steps taken for the day or so that it takes to get a result from the lab)

 

[sweetmarie]

Well my employer's insurance answered me today and informed me that their agreement does not cover these monitors. I had previously contacted someone who's a diabetic to find out if our insurance company covers their equipment and he told me yes. Anybody else on the board been in a similar situation?

 

[Freddie]

Well my employer's insurance answered me today and informed me that their agreement does not cover these monitors. I had previously contacted someone who's a diabetic to find out if our insurance company covers their equipment and he told me yes. Anybody else on the board been in a similar situation?

I am!
Some or most insurance companies don't recognize or know about INR,
even though the monitor is licensed by Health Canada. The insurance company my spouse has won't cover the strips or lancets little own the monitor - I'm on my own :frown2:
Been thinking about talking to MLA, just don't know if it will do any good.

 

[Bina]

Well my employer's insurance answered me today and informed me that their agreement does not cover these monitors. I had previously contacted someone who's a diabetic to find out if our insurance company covers their equipment and he told me yes. Anybody else on the board been in a similar situation?

SM, At first our insurance refused payment because they didn't have the INR products on their lists. They do
cover diabetic testing strips for life, so that is where I headed with my explanation of what the INR test strips
were and why I need them. I also mentioned that I could get a letter from my doctor if they continued to refuse
to cover them, and that they better "get with the program and update their lists".

The monitor itself won't be covered on insurance, but put it on your income tax next year. The important thing
is to get coverage for the strips because they will cost more in the long run.
Don't give up.

 

[sweetmarie]

And now the insurance covers the strips and lancets?