Fee schedule comparison

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy at BaroMedical is delivered at maximal intensity and oxygen dosage, supervised by health-care professionals with medical training and expertise in hyperbaric medicine. This is reflected in the final therapy charge. 

BaroMedical operates four state-of-the-art Sechrist oxygen flow-through chambers, manufactured in Anaheim, California. Sechrist chambers are widely used in the US and globally in thousands of hospital and clinical settings and they have, in Canada, been issued Health Canada Medical Device Licences as well as BC Safety Authority's Operational Permits. BaroMedical maintains yearly accounts approval of this. 

Sechrist oxygen chambers are generally considered the gold standard within hyperbaric healthcare facilities and are priced as such.

Non-approved cheaper chambers will use air-compressors, rather than oxygen to inflate or compress the chamber and you will be required to inhale oxygen from a limited oxygen flow mask or hood, typically at less than 10-15 liters per min.  To be safe and efficient this requires a very snug fitting mask or hood to prevent detrimental leakage of air from the chamber atmosphere into the inhaled gas.

The more comfortable and effective oxygen compressed chambers on the other hand eliminates the risk of nitrogen exposure with a continuous flow of oxygen at a rate of up to 500 liters per minute of pure medical-grade oxygen.  In quantitative terms, the total amount of oxygen delivered in an air-filled chamber within a whole one hour therapy (60 min * 15 liters/min) is delivered within the first few minutes (less than 120 seconds) in an oxygen filled chamber. Granted, not all of this extra oxygen is absorbed in the body but it does assure there is no nitrogen exposure, whatsoever.

In short: Oxygen chambers effectively deliver more than 30 times the amount of oxygen potentially available in air-filled chambers.  As well, BaroMedical's chambers operated up to a full 3 atmosphere for the most intense therapy sessions. Many air filled chambers are limited to less than 2 atmosphere and as such are not acknowledged as therapeutic devices requiring Safety Authority's Operational Permit. 

These are some of the technical differences.  On the physiological side, the oxygen filled chambers allows your skin as well as your lungs to be exposed to the oxygen for a maximal therapeutic effect. In the air-filled chamber on the other hand, your skin is exposed to large amounts of nitrogen from the chamber atmosphere which will effectively dilute the already limited oxygen exposure through the low-flow hood or mask.

Again:  Oxygen filled chambers are more effective in acquiring better results with fewer sessions than in the air-filled chamber. 

BaroMedical has a website write-up on these differences under: "Hyperbaric technologies explained"

Please don't take all of the above as a criticism of the air-filled chambers.  They certainly have their place and merit in specific situations, such as larger hospital chambers where electronic equipment is required inside the chamber to monitor or treat acute patients. Such equipment would otherwise not be permitted in an oxygen filled environment. And, air-filled chambers are also the best choice when a source of oxygen is limited, such as on offshore oil-drilling platforms or in the mining and diving industries. However, for out-patient elective hyperbaric therapy the single person oxygen filled chamber is by far the most effect and comfortable choice.

In addition to the above mentioned technical and physiological differences, BaroMedical is proud to provide our clients access to the opinion of international medical specialists with specific training and expertise in hyperbaric medicine.  

  

We hope this answers your question. 

We always encourage our prospective clients to visit BaroMedical and other providers to get a first hand facility and staff impression for the important decision on choosing your hyperbaric health-care team.