Sleep apnea testing was a time commitment. For years, patients were required to stay overnight at a sleep clinic, plugged in to machines and watched over for seven hours by sleep technologists. Now, most people can strap a portable monitor to their chest and get tested as they doze in their own beds.
Researchers have found that the cheaper and often more convenient home tests are about as good at detecting the breathing interruptions that characterize obstructive sleep apnea. Massachusetts insurance companies looking to clamp down on the booming field of sleep medicine have responded by restricting use of the in-lab tests, which run about $650 to $1,000, in favor of home testing at about one-third the cost.
Comments
The shift to home studies "could" increase incorrect test results? This council can't tell us if it will?
This is not an overall cost saver. The game being played by the insurers is a cheaper price for outpatient testing but no significant equipment maintainance and personel reductions inpatient. More difficult cases need hospital bound surveillance and the waiting list will be shortened but the volume of business will remain the same. No hospital worth its salt is going to go for reduced payments since its expense roughly remains the same or more likely increases with time. Therefore this little venture for convenience with an incomplete report card will add to the medical costs, not vice versa.