Were you recently diagnosed with sleep apnea or have a family member who just started using a CPAP device? You're not alone. In addition to an estimated 20 million Americans who have sleep apnea, there are lots of celebrities (both men and women) who have also publicly shared their struggles with the disease. Who do you know on this list of 20 celebrities?

You’ve probably heard about the physical side effects of sleep apnea, like high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes. But obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can take as big a toll on the brain as it does on the heart. Changes in brain matter and damage to neurons caused by sleep deprivation can lead to memory loss and other complications. Recent studies have shown that sleep apnea also changes the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain. What does this mean? The good news is, this damage may be reversible.

Out-of-network services: a nasty surprise ($150 vs $1,200)

A study from the Kaiser Family Foundation of Americans who had trouble paying their medical bills found that 32% received care from an out-of-network provider that insurance wouldn't fully cover and 21% of respondents did not know that their provider was out of network. 

Why is it important to choose an in-network provider?

If you've received a new PAP device to treat your sleep apnea in the past 12-18 months, you likely have a device that can be enabled to wireless transmit your usage data to your smartphone, your physician, your medical equipment provider and even your health insurance company.

Why? How? What does this mean for patients and their privacy? What are the benefits for patients and their healthcare providers?

Cost of Missed Appointments

At Advanced Sleep Medicine Services, like most healthcare providers, we go through a lot of work (data entry, insurance verification, scheduling, assigning staff) before each patient appointment. It kills us when the patient makes it all the way through this process and then no-shows to her appointment.

We could focus on attracting a new patients to make up for the missed appointments, or we can look for ways to ensure that as many patients as possible arrive, as scheduled, to complete their appointments so that they can receive the diagnosis and treatment they need and we can bill (and get paid) for the service. In the past three years as reimbursement has dropped, we’ve tried different strategies. In this blog post we outline our most recent attempts, what we’ve learned from them and finally, what’s working now.

Until now, research has suggested that sleeping with your pets is disruptive and should be avoided. A new study released December 2015 finds that sleeping with your pet may help you feel more secure, reduce anxiety and even sleep better!

The Affordable Care Act (also known as ObamaCare) rolled out in 2014. Since then, we've seen changes in how healthcare is administered by many insurance companies.

Here's an overview of how sleep apnea testing in-center and in-home, PAP therapy and oral appliance therapy are affected by the Affordable Care Act. 

A recent segment on NPR’s All Things Considered came on and caught my interest when I heard the terms “sleep quality” and “sleep deprivation”. I was even more interested when I heard that the interviewee was conducting research in India on the relationship between poor sleep quality and poverty.

We’re constantly revisiting reasons why sleep is important to health on our blog, our website, etc., so drawing a connection between poor sleep and poverty sounded pretty compelling. Read on! 

Age and sleep are closely related, and many people will notice a significant decline in the quality of sleep as they grow older. According the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, sleep patterns change throughout life, and for most of us, the amount of time we spend sleeping each day slowly decreases as we age.

Many patients find the idea of having to wear a mask to sleep every night to be daunting. Fortunately, the field of sleep medicine is changing quickly, in ways that are making treatment more accessible, convenient, and patient-friendly. Most excitingly, better and more comfortable treatment options are being developed that could replace CPAP entirely--even as soon as the next couple years.