Raytell??

[dcat96]

Does anyone in the New England area have a Inratio and deal with Raytel? I am getting my first home test kit this week and wondering what to expect with company? communication?

 

[NewValveNY]

INRAtio in NY

INRAtio in NY

Hi DCAT96,

I have been using INRatio through Raytel for over a year. The company is great! Mine is leased through my insurance, and I pay a copay on a monthly/bimonthly basis. The customer service is great through the toll free numbers, reporting your INR is easy, and they fax/call your doctor with the results the same day. They provide you with plenty of materials, and it is easy to reorder by telephone. The only thing that Raytel does not want is for the materials to stay on a hot doorstep during the day, so you may opt to have the materials sent to a location where the strips are not exposed to extreme temps.
The machine is a no brainer. Just read the manual, learn the best way to get a sample for yourself (practice makes perfect) and enjoy the ability to reduce risks of warfarin by home testing!
If you have any questions, continue the thread, or send me a message.
Good luck!
Allan

 

[Eva]

I am looking forward to hear the replies to your thread, as I am in the process of buying a home machine.

 

[MandyMV]

We also deal with Raytel and I have to say they have been very helpful every time I have called. We had only one problem with getting strips but when I called to inquire after the 3-5 days had passed they were very apologetic and got us on the very next shipment so we never ran out. Ryan uses the machine and lancet with ease and it travels well in its carrying case. Our only issue with the machine is that sometimes when the machine is in the case it turns on the unit but we carry extra batteries in the pack so no worries there. Good luck!

 

[catwoman]

We also deal with Raytel and I have to say they have been very helpful every time I have called. We had only one problem with getting strips but when I called to inquire after the 3-5 days had passed they were very apologetic and got us on the very next shipment so we never ran out. Ryan uses the machine and lancet with ease and it travels well in its carrying case. Our only issue with the machine is that sometimes when the machine is in the case it turns on the unit but we carry extra batteries in the pack so no worries there. Good luck!

I was advised not to put anything between the actual INRatio machine and the carrying case. The RN whom I got a call from via QAS said that people frequently put the manual in the carrying case and that touches the on switch, causing the batteries to give out prematurely.

 

[Dennis S]

My experience for the last three years has been great.

 

[AgilityDog]

I had good experience with Raytel until this past spring, when they changed the insurance processing service location code from 11 to 81, resulting in my getting monthly bills of $150 instead of $50.

Because I have no wish to pay $1500 per year to rent a machine I can purchase for about $750, (and Raytel also wants $1500 to purchase it outright, plus $350 for 50 strips, for a total of $1800) I purchased my machine and strips directly from a medical supplier, Caflin Equipment. On line. It does not come with the full set up of lancing device and carry case or strips, but you can purchase those separately, and the total I spent was $1050 for the machine and 50 strips.

I then spent an additional $50 on the carry case (another online source) and $15 on lancing device and lancets at Walgreens.

All I needed to purchase my own machine was a signature from my doctor.

 

[catwoman]

If you order supplies -- not rent a machine -- from Raytel and go through insurance for coverage, ask a lot of questions. (You should do this with any DME/supplies provider.)

I used Raytel twice for testing supplies on my ProTime 3, which had been bought from QAS in 2003.
QAS went out of network and Raytel went into network with United Health Care.
Raytel's rep told me they use DME code E1399 for INR machine and for the testing supplies (same code QAS was using and I had no problem with UHC). I very specifically asked what the E code was for the testing strips.
Months later -- maybe 12-18 months later -- I learned that Raytel does NOT use E1399. As a result, UHC refused to pay any for the testing supplies.

 

[EVELYN]

We just ordered a box of 48 strips and some lancettes from Raytel because they are secondary on my husband's insurance and in network for UHC.....We own our own INRatio, so we just needed the supplies, and did NOT need to rent the machine. Raytel REFUSEd to file with Medicare (Tyce's primary) unless we subscribe to the leasing plan, get a new machine, and pay the copay every month. Therefore, WE had to file with medicare on our own and will now have to submit the difference to our insurance UHC.
Of course, they would have filed against medicare IF we had used them to lease a machine and copay every month......not too professional, if you ask me.
Evelyn

 

[catwoman]

We just ordered a box of 48 strips and some lancettes from Raytel because they are secondary on my husband's insurance and in network for UHC.....We own our own INRatio, so we just needed the supplies, and did NOT need to rent the machine. Raytel REFUSEd to file with Medicare (Tyce's primary) unless we subscribe to the leasing plan, get a new machine, and pay the copay every month. Therefore, WE had to file with medicare on our own and will now have to submit the difference to our insurance UHC.
Of course, they would have filed against medicare IF we had used them to lease a machine and copay every month......not too professional, if you ask me.

Sounds very convoluted to me... If I read your post correctly, they wanted you to lease a machine, rather than selling strips and filing with Medicare. Seems the same as if you had leased the machine and paid a co-pay, with the rest going through Medicare.

Or did I miss something????

 

[AgilityDog]

If you just need the strips, you don't need the magic medical authorization form to get them where I bought my machine, at Claflin Equipment. $242 for 48. No, I don't get a commission ! I just know how much $$ we all spend on taking care of ourselves.

http://www.claflinequip.com/ProductDetail/?productid=2521&catid=885&subcatid=&category=INR+Testing&bc=827+885

Marsha properly pointed out the link at Claflin Equipment for the medical authorization on the INRatio product page is faulty. I had to put in a search and click on another product before I could bring up that form. Ok, small PITA.

 

[EVELYN]

Hi Catwoman
Raytel would be very happy to file against Medicare and UHC if we had leased a machine through them and wanted us to go that route. Tyce said NO, that we already owned our own INRatio, to which they promptly said that we would have to pay for the strips directly and file against Medicare ourselves, which is what we did because they would NOT file against Medicare unless we leased their machine and reported our results to them each week. We then submitted a bill from raytel to Medicare along with form #cms1490S, which we downloaded, and we have to wait for a month or so to get reimbursed and then file with UHC for secondary payment. By the way, 48 strips cost $324 with Raytel and 100 Lancets cost $80.....what a ripoff. We also had to sumbit to Medicare a copy of our Physicians letter saying we needed to home test.

Evelyn

 

[catwoman]

I had to file all sorts of paperwork with Raytel just to buy the ProTime 3 cuvettes.

Of course, I had to do this all over again with QAS when I got the INRatio. Seems you have to do paperwork for each machine -- the paperwork has the manufacturer's name on it.