All in the family.

According to Plato "Necessity is the mother of invention", and in 1999 John Goodman was learning exactly what Plato meant. John, the owner of a private sleep disorder treatment business, needed to liquidate CPAP inventory.

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When John struggled to even load pictures for his online auctions he realized he needed serious help. Where does any clever adult turn that needs serious high-level technical support? John enlisted the help of his then 17 year old son, Johnny and later his youngest son, Zach. Soon the online auctions turned to an online price list that eventually became the world's largest online retailer of CPAP equipment.

But there was a second need here. What really pushed this initiative forward were the CPAP users. They were underserved by the Internet free market. CPAP.com embodies the free market, "cash for product" model of CPAP distribution in contrast to the traditional model. In the traditional CPAP distribution model, local providers dispense CPAP equipment to patients in exchange for insurance reimbursement. A combination of prescribing physicians and CPAP manufacturers offer attractive pricing and this usually determines which products patients will receive. Since insurance reimbursement rates are set by contract, and lower quality equipment is cheaper, providers are motivated to dispense basic equipment to patients. This practice, combined with the consolidation of local providers into nation wide healthcare companies with exclusive insurance and manufacturer contracts, leads to patient frustration and poor compliance rates. In this way CPAP.com filled a unique niche for CPAP customers. As a result CPAP.com began receiving more and more requests for CPAP equipment, ancillaries and information about using the CPAP equipment. John and his team met the challenge; the "necessity". Not only do they provide customer access to an extensive inventory of CPAP equipment and CPAP related items, they also provide free consumer preference reports, mask sizing guides, CPAP compare charts, an extensive FAQ section, and a CPAP user online community, cpaptalk.com. Let's look at a few highlights after we talk about the website itself.

The CPAP.com website is all about customer service. No matter what part of the website you are using, you know that the focus is the CPAP user and their needs. This well designed and extensive website is easy to navigate for the customer. Despite the fact that it contains many visual teaching and learning tools, it is not full of heavy data that would slow down pages loading or slow down moving around the site.

The main page presents itself under three categories; home/shop/learn. "Home" gives you the typical commerce features such as, item search, shopping cart, log in for returning customers, and featured items to purchase. There is a link to the latest newsletters. The left column contains a table of contents, if you will, that is always present no matter where you are on the website. The column's top half is a categorized list of items for purchase, CPAP masks, machines, tubing, services, etc. The lower half is labeled "TOOLS". These tools include all kinds of interesting stuff, so let me just highlight some of these interesting tidbit from each category to share with you. That way you get a flavor of what's available and will begin to see why I say they have a great focus on customer service.

The CPAP Mask Sizing Guide - As I was waiting in traffic today I evaluated my nares in the rear view mirror, determining they are "round" and not "slotted". I learned this from the CPAP Mask Sizing Guide. This detailed guide is interactive in that it has the customer take measurements and make observations (like my round nostrils) then input the data into the web page guide. By clicking the 'Find Masks That Fit Me' Button, it will make mask recommendations and determine if nasal pillows are a possibility for you.

The Comparison guide - The guide compares features and specifications for the 5 most popular CPAP machines, all CPAP machines, or you can choose the ones you want to compare.

Ask a Question - The language used throughout the site is very personable and welcoming. The Ask a question is a secure webpage form customers can use to submit a question to the company. This is a thoughtful way of providing contact information since it doesn't require the user to have an e-mail account or software on their computer. For example, someone using the library computer or a family member/friends computer doesn't have to worry. These are the thoughtful features that make this site customer friendly. Here is how the customer is greeted in an open and welcoming tone at the contact form: "Hello! We'll respond to your questions about our products, sleep disorders, anything to do with sleep apnea, or anything on this web site. We love to help people sleep better, email us with any concerns regarding sleep."

FAQ - The FAQ can be viewed as a list of categories (about 25) that can be expanded to show the questions in each category. Everything is covered here. One of the most elusive facts I can never find on most web sites is shipping info. Their shipping info is here (2 clicks from opening the home page), plus pricing, prescriptions, products, definitions, and more.

Video - They have an extensive collection of introductory videos, product videos, manufacturer videos, in the news videos. The site boasts, "We are proud to maintain the only Instructional CPAP Video Library on the net! All day, every day our customers have access to videos covering popular and commonly asked CPAP topics. We even provide our videos in a variety of qualities and formats. Broadband or dial-up. UNIX, Mac or PC. Everyone can access and use our videos."

Consumer Preferences - Back in 2005 CPAP.com began publishing their consumer preferences. Reflecting back on their model of free market sales, what consumers purchase from them is a true reflection of what they most prefer. It isn't driven by contracts, insurance, vendors. Consumer Preference reports contain brand market share and product strength data. When customers make purchases, they effectively vote with their dollars and in so doing act as an effective gauge of true consumer preference and possible future trends. John Goodman's remarks support the true focus of the company being consumer-driven, "our company is aware that releasing closely held sales data is not standard practice but customers want to know what is popular. These reports are a natural extension of CPAP.com's core business, which is serving the consumer driven CPAP market."

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dates for a challenge. The active challenge current as of this writing is between the Fisher & Paykel Opus 360 and the ResMed Mirage Swift LT Mask.

Mask Guide - This is a unique web based equivalence guide. According to the website, "To date, no one offers anything nearly as complete or comprehensive. We created this tool because many of our customers had found a mask that fit them but still wanted to upgrade or try other masks they heard about. They needed a way to find out how their current mask mapped to different sizes of masks produced by different manufacturers."

Other miscellaneous items of interest - Customers can upload prescriptions to the site, map local services like sleep support groups, sleep specialists and services, and sign up for the CPAP.com newsletter. The companion site, cpaptalk.com is a discussion board for CPAP users.

John Goodman continues to work with his two sons, Johnny and Zach, his daughter-in-law Carol (she married Johnny), a couple of respiratory therapists, and twenty-four other customer service focused employees to provide a much "needed" resource to the CPAP community. In a much appreciated way. To contact the company visit: www.cpap.com, e-mail [e-mail], or call 1-800-356-5221 (Mon-Fri 7 am - 10 pm CST, Sat 8 am - 6 pm CST)

By Lisa Rapple M.Ed, RRT 

Lisa Rapple, RRT M.Ed is a veteran therapist, educator and manager. She appears regularly in Focus Journal writing on Respiratory Care online. She can be reached at [e-mail].