Diagnosing Sleep Apnea and Managing Your Symptoms

"It is important that patients get tested for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) when showing combinations of signs and symptoms such as loud snoring, excessive sleepiness, gasping, morning headaches, restless sleep, and irritability because these patients are more likely to be living with other conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, or other chronic conditions.  With proper treatments, these associated diseases may improve in OSA patients. Feeling more rested can also improve the patient's mood and overall quality of life, and reduce their risk for sleep-related accidents.

Getting tested is much easier now because at-home sleep testing has become more mainstream over the past decade. Previously, patients often needed to wait weeks to get an appointment, as all testing was done in a Sleep Lab with a limited number of beds. Now, 70-75% of patients are eligible to be tested at home, with portable devices at their convenience. Through our prior authorization process, EviCore helps to direct at-risk, but medically uncomplicated patients to the more readily available and convenient option of home sleep testing, while directing the more complex patients to facility testing."

- Dr. Mark Ippolito, Chief of Sleep Services

To download the PDF click here.