CPAPPeople ventures into home testing

RICHMOND, Va. - If there's one thing provider Tim Tillman has noticed in the past year, it's that everyone is talking about home sleep testing.

That's why, in February, www.cpappeople.com planned to start offering the service.

"The industry itself seems to be latching onto it and we hope to be a part of that," he said. "Convenience and price for customers is the driving force."

Initially, the provider will focus on promoting the new service in its local market, including local tradeshows, before launching a national push, probably in March. Cpappeople.com is also working with local physicians.

"We are letting our local doctors feel out and make sure that our system works and that what we are offering is good for the patients," said Tillman.

Lower-cost home sleep tests are a good fit with the provider's cash-only business model, said Tillman. Its typical customer, says Tillman, finds that paying out-of-pocket is often cheaper than going through their insurer.

"Our customers don't want to pay $3,000 for a sleep study or go to a sleep clinic," he said. "In the same respect that we are selling CPAPs to them, we can also sell the sleep test."

One potential new pool of customers: truck drivers. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is expected to release draft regulations this year on sleep apnea and truck drivers.

"Testing is going to become mandatory so we are hoping to get people in line for that before it becomes something they lose their jobs over," said Tillman. "We have a couple of partnerships we are building with trucking companies that are headquartered locally."