Sleep medicine: no sleeper when it comes to profits.

• Increased consumer focus on sleep by education, regulation and patient selfawareness.7 Sleep medicine is a relatively new field that was officially recognized in the 1960s. Today, an estimated 50 million to 70 million Americans suffer from sleep-related problems.1 The first sleep disorder clinic was opened in 19702 at Stanford University by William Dement, MD. Today more than 2,000 sleep centers are accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM)3, an increase of more than 400 percent in the last 10 years.4 And that figure doesn’t include the unaccredited sleep laboratories and centers. Demand is, in part, attributed to increased medical education and recognition of sleep disorders and the link between these disorders and medical conditions.5 Effective operation of a sleep center requires special expertise, advanced equipment, regulatory compliance, reimbursement negotiations, capital, focused management, referral and treatment resources, and ongoing community education. Success depends on the center’s commitment to quality sleep medicine and patient and community service. “A successful sleep center hears testimony on how it has improved the quality of its patients’ lives,” says John Bauer, CPA, CFE, FACMPE, managing member of Aspen Consulting, Strongsville, Ohio. Experts in the fields of women’s health, transportation safety, ethnicity, workplace performance and aging have recognized the significant impact sleep disorders and sleep health have on quality of life and work production.6 In response to increased clinical demand, formal training programs in sleep medicine By Donna K. Knapp, MA, FACMPE, MGMAHealth Care Consulting, [email protected] OBJECTIVE ADVICE MGMA Health Care Consulting Group solves practices’ problems