Care Centrix is the company that does the authorizations for sleep studies for Cigna insurance. They recently bought a home sleep company. They now not only get to make the decision on who gets a sleep study, they then order the study, send out either an HST machine or more often an autopap machine with instructions and basically tell ...

It is the end of February and we are on the cusp of a new month. Let's not dwell on how fast were aging at this point. It could become depressing.  I was reading an interesting article online that discusses the link between insomnia and suicide. The author Dr. W. Vaughn McCall, is chair of the department of psychiatry at ...

NURSES BURN OUT ON LONG SHIFTS!! Well surprise, surprise, surprise, and to quote one of my favorite malcontent Disney characters, Diego, ''I am not surprised, I am so not surprised, I think I am going to die from not surprise!'' This article under this headline laments the long 12-hour shifts nurses must work and how dissatisfied they become ...

I had the opportunity to meet Sherry Johnston from the Biggest Loser, Season 9 and I can tell you two things that you should know about her.  First, she is an amazing and inspiring woman and second, she is the most passionate sleep advocate I have ever met.  She has inspired me with her idea that we need to create a ''Women and Sleep'' ...

I am concerned and frustrated this week. I keep hoping to find that magical sweet spot between DME's and patients. Our city has about 10 different DME companies and as you might expect, service can vary greatly. It can be a challenge to understand exactly what takes place at the DME. I know the patient is given RX for therapy and usually a copy ...

As the field changes we are seeing that more of the in-lab patients are geriatric patients. The issues is they tend to be very different than middle age patients. They have more health issues, psychiatric issues, and social issues. As many sleep technicians are younger, the biggest issue sometimes can be a generation gap that needs to be ...

Do you ever feel like life doesn't make sense? Here are the things that make me go hmmm... 1) RPSGT determines optimal CPAP to be 9-11 cms H2O and the doctor prescribes CPAP 8. Patient returns complaining of snoring and fatigue. Hmmm. 2) Sheldon Cooper-archetype who debunks sleep studies as ''hokum'' is forced to have a sleep study and ...

Editors Note: This is the second in a series of blogs where Amy Korn Reavis asks her mentors, role models, and people she admires about the field of sleep. View part I here. The next two people who answered my questions are people who I have learned a great deal from. Henry Johns is one of the original leaders in the sleep field. When I worked ...

There is a huge failure rate for CPAP therapy; some would even say it is as high as 50 percent. That number is being used by insurance companies, home sleep testing companies, and people who do not believe in sleep apnea to prove that we are testing too many people and spending too much money. But we're not. The failure rate results from our ...

I've been mulling over the articles I've been reading about the coming changes in reimbursements for sleep testing. I feel like just throwing my hands up and running in circles, screaming, ''The sky is falling! The sky is falling!'' If I understand correctly all diagnostic sleep testing must be considered as home testing unless the patient meets ...