The elusive "sleep doctor"

Snoredog · Post by **Snoredog** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 5:32 pm

snoregirl wrote:BrianRT

I am glad to hear I am not crazy as I could have sworn that my reports were templates. Really irritating when I get billed a couple hundred for each one.

What a scam. Could have just sent my tech reports to my primary care physician since he is who sent me to the sleep study anyway and saved everyone a bundle. No value add at all in my opinion for a sleep doc.

I think mine was done on like a Microsoft Word template, they boast "we have the latest and greatest equipment in our lab.."

then when you get your hypograph summary report it looks like from some old Alice-4 system then your copy is a copy of a copy of a copy in size 2 font like it was printed out on a ancient "dot-matrix" printer using carbon paper and someone kicked it half-way through your printout.

At first I thought that only happened on mine, but I see others posted here with the exact same thing, sorta makes all those event tics run together and a bit harder to read (whole objective behind giving you that quality report is my guess).

BrianRT · Post by **BrianRT** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 5:40 pm

Christine.....wow....what a story. Luckily you did get hooked up to the right place because of your complex SDB.

I've always wondered about sleep docs having ownership in a lab. I know there are laws against self-referral for Medicare (Stark law) but owning a lab seems a pretty obvious conflict of interest to me.

tillymarigold · Post by **tillymarigold** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 5:50 pm

BrianRT wrote:1-WERE THESE DOCS ACTUALLY BOARDED BY THE ABSM??

2-WAS THE SLEEP LAB FULLY ACCREDITED BY THE AASM??

To find out #1, go here...
http://www.absm.org

To find out #2, go here...
http://www.sleepcenters.org

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to know this!

Brian, as a tech you should know that sleepcenters.org does not list all accredited sleep labs! They list all *member* labs. As far as I can tell, the only difference is that *member* labs also pay a lot of money to the AASM. Other than that, the requirements are the same--all accredited labs must go through rigorous screening and education requirements, plus to be a member, you also pay a membership fee. So all the labs at that site are accredited, but there are other accredited labs that are not listed on that site.

In other words, at sleepcenters.org you could find an accredited lab ... but you can't look up a lab there and find out with absolute certainty whether it's accredited. Because it may be accredited, but not be a member.

My doctor is board certified and my lab is accredited. However, it does not appear on sleepcenter.org's list (I had to email them to check, and they confirmed it is accredited).

tillymarigold · Post by **tillymarigold** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 5:51 pm

jennmary wrote:My doctor was on the first list. My lab was noton the second one. Of course I am in california and the nearest one on that list is over 2 hours away. But regardless of the certification....my lab was great.

It may still be accredited. Not all accredited labs actually appear on that list. If you're concerned, you can email and ask.

BrianRT · Post by **BrianRT** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 6:12 pm

Those were the only lists I knew of to check. If you know of any others, I'd be glad to use those too.

As an aside, I know of another lab that is not accredited in my area. Now, some insurances won't pay for you to go to an unaccredited lab. I've talked to the girl that verifies benefits for this lab. She says that she gets asked all the time if the lab is accredited by the Ins Co. She's been instructed to say yes. The owners' logic is very loosely based on the credentials of the Medical Director (he's ABSM), NOT the lab.

AND THAT'S ALL IT TAKES FOR THE INSURANCE COMPANY TO SAY OK!!

Of course, the absolute best way is to contact the accrediting agency, not the lab. The lab may tell you whatever you want to hear

tillymarigold · Post by **tillymarigold** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 6:37 pm

BrianRT wrote:Those were the only lists I knew of to check. If you know of any others, I'd be glad to use those too.

As far as I know, there is no list of all labs accredited by the AASM. My suggestion would be to tell people to first check sleepcenters.org and then email the AASM if they don't see their lab on that list, making it clear that a lab that is not on the list may still be accredited and that they shouldn't assume a lab is not accredited unless they contact the AASM and the AASM says it's not.

The address I emailed was accreditation@aasmnet.org .

JimW · Post by **JimW** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 6:59 pm

BrianRT wrote:That's why I'm curious to see if there is a trend or if it's just wide open like a 4-20cm Apap ROFL!!

When my lab gave my script for APAP, they refined it considerably - to 6-20 cm. I've not had any contact from them since.

wankel · Post by **wankel** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 8:19 am

Never saw my sleep doctor.

cflame1 · Post by **cflame1** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 6:44 pm

I've actually been to both the "drive by" and the "full service" types. Never saw the drive by doc at all, even when I was having trouble. That was what lead me to find the "full service" doc.

The problem with the drive by's is if you need to have a change and you don't know how to do it yourself and/or can't monitor yourself, then eventually even the DME doesn't want to talk to you.

kavanaugh1950 · Post by **kavanaugh1950** » Sun Jun 10, 2007 11:30 pm

WOW SNORE DOG, YOUR STORY IS POWERFUL! HOW SAD THAT YOU HAD TO GO THROUGH THAT AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE. THANKS SO MUCH FOR SHARING IT. NOW I UNDERSTAND YOUR FERVOR IN ADDRESSING THE ISSUES OF OSA. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO FOR US. PAT