The American Academy of Sleep Drugs has issued a brand new place assertion advocating for everlasting telehealth protection, emphasizing its important position in offering high-quality, patient-centered care for people with sleep issues.
The place assertion, revealed as an accepted paper within the Journal of Medical Sleep Drugs, comes at an important turning level as present telehealth flexibilities carried out by the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Companies in response to the COVID-19 public well being emergency are set to run out this month. The AASM emphasizes that everlasting protection with sufficient reimbursement is significant for the long-term acceptance and enlargement of telehealth providers.
Sleep drugs is uniquely suited to telehealth supply resulting from restricted supplier entry, security issues with sleepy sufferers, and the provision of distant affected person monitoring for remedy administration. The minimal want for repeated bodily examinations in sleep drugs makes it a really perfect subject for telehealth implementation.”
Dr. Kunwar Praveen Vohra, lead creator and member of the AASM Advocacy Committee
Analysis demonstrates that digitally delivered care is equally efficient in bettering sleep high quality, and it could actually advance well being fairness, additional reinforcing the necessity for everlasting protection. For example, proof reveals that telehealth-supported therapies, corresponding to cognitive behavioral remedy for insomnia, can enhance each affected person outcomes and remedy adherence when performed nearly.
Moreover, telehealth integration tackles vital well being care challenges by increasing affected person entry, boosting clinician effectivity, and enhancing affected person security.
“Telehealth eliminates the necessity for sleepy sufferers to drive to appointments, lowering crash dangers whereas facilitating entry to look after underserved populations,” Vohra mentioned. “That is notably vital for sufferers with situations like sleep apnea and narcolepsy who expertise extreme daytime sleepiness.”
The AASM requires stakeholders to handle a number of key areas to optimize telehealth providers, together with cost fashions, interstate care rules, expertise entry, and prescribing practices. The group emphasizes the significance of cost parity between audiovisual and in-office visits to make sure monetary viability.
To assist the continued development of sleep telehealth providers, the AASM recommends increasing analysis to judge outcomes, entry to care, cost-effectiveness, and optimum integration into scientific observe. The group additionally emphasizes the necessity for elevated entry to broadband networks, notably in rural areas, to make sure telehealth is accessible and protected for all sufferers.
Anybody who has a sleep downside can use the AASM’s sleep heart listing to get assist from the sleep workforce at an accredited sleep heart.
Supply:
Journal reference:
Vohra, Ok. P., et al. (2024). Suggestions for everlasting sleep telehealth: an American Academy of Sleep Drugs place assertion. Journal of Medical Sleep Drugs. doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.11438.