The California Sleep Society will hold its 9th annual educational symposium September 30 to October 1, 2016 in Anaheim, CA.  

As corporate members of this organization, we will be attending the symposium next week to learn about the latest advances in patient care and technology related to sleep medicine.

We will meet with key opinion leaders in the field of sleep medicine, sleep specialists from across the state of California, polysomnography technicians, CPAP equipment manufacturers like ResMed and Respironics and companies developing novel solutions to treat sleep disorders, like the Inspire Upper Airway Stimulation Device.

Here's more information about the history of sleep medicine in California and the vision and mission of the California Sleep Society.

Telemedicine was a hot topic at this year's Sleep conference, a joint meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society, in Denver, Colorado.

Telemedicine has been embraced by primary care physicians in rural areas who struggle to arrange for specialist consultations for their patients who have limited access due to the cost or convenience of traveling to the major cities where these specialists usually reside.

If telemedicine can increase access to specialists, can it help the millions of undiagnosed Americans suffering with sleep apnea and other sleep disorders?

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.