Sleep Solutions debuts mail-order pulse ox program

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Sleep Solutions is answering a call. While the company has earned its stripes providing in-home sleep tests for obstructive sleep apnea, President and CEO Mike Thomas said pulse oximetry testing is what the industry is clamoring for. "Most of our home health and DME companies who we have been working with as strategic partners have said, 'Yeah, we are interested in in-home sleep studies, but what is a crisis right now is pulse oximetry. Can you help us out?'" Thomas decided he could help, and in July Sleep Solutions launched a nationwide mail order pulse oximetry program using NovaSom technology. The program works like many other mail order pulse oximetry services with the home health provider taking a hands-off role. The DME only drops off and picks up the test at the potential oxygen patient's home. Sleep Solutions, which is also a Medicare-approved independent diagnostic testing facility, interprets the test and makes the results available to the clinician and physician. The service costs the provider nothing, and Sleep Solutions bills the insurance for payment. The difference with Sleep Solutions' program, however, is the size and scope its CEO hopes to achieve. "We are looking to build capacity about 10 to 20 times what the current so-called national providers are doing while also making everyone feel comfortable about sending their business to us," said Thomas. Thomas said this growth level is possible because of the infrastructure Sleep Solutions has established in other areas of business. From day one of the new program, Sleep Solutions could service every zip code in the country. "It's a tough business to make money in because you only get $20 per test," he said. "You need to do this on a large scale, and you need to be very efficient. We feel that the infrastructure we have built already for home sleep studies will provide a nice advantage to us." Last year, Sleep Solutions doubled its in-home sleep tests business with the Department of Veteran's Affairs by contracting with two sleep centers in Puget Sound, Wash., and Salt Lake City.