As the number of patients diagnosed with sleep apnea is increasing the costs related to the health insurance is also increasing exponentially. This skyrocketing of the insurer’s sleep apnea related costs has now compelled the insurance companies to change their health coverage policies for the disorder.

A sleep apnea diagnosis usually requires patients undergo tests overnight in a sleep lab; some patients spend two nights in the lab to separately test for sleep apnea and to try a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine. Insurers often spend $1,900 for one overnight stay.

As a result of this increased spending, some experts are concerned that overnight tests to diagnose apnea are over-prescribed. Medicare payments for sleep testing increased from $62 million in 2001 to $235 million in 2009.

This contrasts effective home sleep tests that cost less than a fifth of the lab version. Although Medicare began paying for home sleep tests in 2008, the tests have had only modest growth. Read the rest of this entry

Verizon Wireless and NovaSom, Inc., the leader in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) home testing, will be showcasing the NovaSom’s AccuSom  Home Sleep Test at 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), [the Verizon booth ,Las Vegas Convention Center, South Hall, Booth #30259].

The AccuSom Home Sleep Test is used in the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea(OSA), one of the most serious and under-diagnosed medical conditions in the United States, affecting nearly 18 million Americans.  AccuSom is the only FDA-cleared wireless home sleep test on the market, utilizing Verizon’s network to wirelessly collect and transfer sleep data from the patient’s home to a proprietary cloud-based sleep apnea management platform for physician interpretation and diagnosis. Read the rest of this entry

Sleep is a precious gift to human nature. But for over 87 million Americans, snoring and sleeping go hand-in-hand. Since snoring is often passed off as a simple annoyance, many people don’t understand the potential health problems snoring can cause. Snoring may be a warning sign of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) in which a person stops breathing at times during the night and up to 7 minutes over the course of one night.

In fact, sleep apnea and snoring have been linked to very serious health issues such as heart attack and stroke. It’s also estimated that there are over 40 million Americans with sleep disorders and over 90% of them are left undiagnosed and untreated. In such milieus, it is imperative for folks to look into the World Wide Web for Snoring Treatments and Snoring Remedies. One name which stands out in the crowd due to its sheer resourcefulness and professionalism is Stop Snoring Austin. Read the rest of this entry

A free information and orientation session for those interested in becoming a polysomnographic technologist, or sleep technician, will be held at Linn-Benton Community College from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 19, in the Calapooia Center, room CC-213, 6500 Pacific Blvd. S.W., Albany.

Polysomnographic technologists assist sleep physicians to help patients with sleep disorders such as sleep apnea.Technologists ready the patient for testing, track the patient’s sleep patterns, and write and interpret the results for the physician.

LBCC’s Polysomnographic Technologist program combines online and in-class instruction with a clinical practicum.Skill areas covered include the physiology of sleep with an emphasis on sleep disorders and their treatment.The program also covers how to administer, interpret and score a variety of sleep tests.Attendance at the orientation session is mandatory before applying for the program.

Classes start June 20 and run through March 17, 2012. Applications for the program are being accepted.Cost is $7,500.

Check the LBCC website for prerequisites at www.linnbenton.edu/go/forms.For more information, contact LBCC Health Occupations and Workforce Education at 541-917-4923.

Sleep is a precious gift to human nature. But for over 87 million Americans, snoring and sleeping go hand-in-hand. Since snoring is often passed off as a simple annoyance, many people don’t understand the potential health problems snoring can cause. Snoring may be a warning sign of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) in which a person stops breathing at times during the night and up to 7 minutes over the course of one night.

In fact, sleep apnea and snoring have been linked to very serious health issues such as heart attack and stroke. It’s also estimated that there are over 40 million Americans with sleep disorders and over 90% of them are left undiagnosed and untreated. In such milieus, it is imperative for folks to look into the World Wide Web for Snoring Treatments and Snoring Remedies. One name which stands out in the crowd due to its sheer resourcefulness and professionalism is Stop Snoring Austin. Read the rest of this entry

New York Harbor Healthcare System, Brooklyn campus, will officially open its state-of-the-art Sleep Center on Monday, Sept. 27, at 10 a.m.

Veterans of all ages can now be diagnosed and treated at VA for a wide variety of sleep disorders including obstructive sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, central sleep apnea syndromes, narcolepsy, as well as sleep problems associated with traumatic brain injury.

The Sleep Center will conduct home sleep studies for sleep apnea testing. Sleep apnea is one of the leading causes of excessive daytime sleepiness, which often goes undiagnosed. [Read Complete Release...]

The Cuyahoga County New Product Development and Entrepreneurship Loan Fund awarded Cleveland Medical Devices Inc. $60,000 to step up commercialization of the company’s SleepView device for sleep apnea screening at home.

CleveMed has a lineup of wireless diagnostic sleep systems, including SleepView, which is the smallest and lightest home sleep monitor with an American Academy of Sleep Medicine-recommended Type 3 channel set.

“This is all about, how do we start to commercialize this more?” said CleveMed chairman Bob Schmidt. “We want to expand from the hundreds of places [where the device is used] now to thousands of places.”

CleveMed develops innovative biomedical signal processing and instrumentation devices for sleep and movement disorders, like Parkinson’s.

Central Washington Sleep Diagnostic Center recently opened it’s second branch in Moses Lake at 2323 W. Broadway Ave., Unit 4.

The sleep center is here to help people experiencing sleeping disorders, as more than 70 million Americans’ sleep is currently affected. The affects of sleep deprivation include depression, brain fog, change in mental status, short-term memory loss, weight gain, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, traffic accidents, workplace accidents and injuries. Read the rest of this entry