The American Academy of Sleep Medicine reports:
The Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee (MedCAC) met September 12, 2007, to evaluate national coverage determination (NCD) 240.4 continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
Alex Chediak, MD, president, and Mary Susan Esther, MD, president-elect, represented the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). As communicated to AASM members via the Weekly Update, Dr. Chediak presented official testimony, completely based on available published evidence and data, on behalf of the AASM.
Download his testimony by visiting www.aasmnet.org/resources/pdf/testimony.pdf.
According to its Web site, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has until December 14, 2007, to issue a preliminary decision memo, which will be followed by a 60-day public comment period. CMS expects to publish the final NCD by March 14, 2008.
The AASM will continue to communicate more information on NCD 240.4 to members as it becomes available.
I am currently at a CME conference sponsored by the AASM. I hope to post more when I get back to Mississippi on Sunday.
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1 comment:
Michael Rack, MD
I have worked in the field of sleep since the early 1980s. The filed was predominantly Neurology then Respiratory would not spit in our direction. The field has been plagued by misinformation from the get go.
The use of Ambulatory Sleep Monitoring is simply outrages. I can not tell you how many times patient coming in for a simple apnea exam turned into a cardiac nightmare. This also would be the case for those with RBD. The truth of the matter is ….we have no idea what we have until the testing is completed.
Ambulatory Sleep testing is not practical.
D. Conn RPSGT
Texas
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