How will HSAT disrupt the model?

YARMOUTH, Maine – Home sleep apnea testing saw a new level of interest when Resmed recently made NightOwl available nationwide and acquired VirtuOx. Nitun Verma, MD, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, spoke with HME News about whether the increasing availability of HSAT, as well as the acquisition, will potentially disrupt the current model. 

HME News: Where do you land on HSAT vs. in-lab testing? 

Dr. Nitun Verma: This conversation about home sleep study or in-lab study is about what’s best for the patient. It’s also about, there are so many sleep conditions to consider when a sleep physician talks to a patient. The textbook that we use has 83 conditions. So, when I’m seeing a patient, I’m thinking, which can it be? Home sleep studies focus on one of the 83 conditions and in-lab studies are good for more than one. But even better, a good patient-doctor conversation may winnow the possibilities faster. 

HME: Part of the reason Resmed acquired VirtuOx was to reduce a backlog in lab testing. Is there a backlog? 

Verma: There’s no doubt about it, with the number of patients looking for help with their sleep health and treatment increasing every year. People are trying to solve this in different ways. They’re trying to hire more sleep physicians, which is hard right now, because there is such a need. The other thing they’re doing is leaning on primary care physicians to help prioritize patients. One of the most efficient things that can happen in medicine is when the PCP talks to the patient and is able to narrow down those 83 conditions. A sleep study might not be needed if it’s determined that it’s one of those 82 other conditions. If we’re racing to give sleep studies to everyone but withhold the patient’s access to a doctor, we’re going to be behind. 

HME: How do you see the Resmed-VirtuOx acquisition potentially disrupting the current model? 

Verma: It doesn’t make sense to isolate the testing in the relationship with the patient, as it’s a rather small part of the process. When someone uses a CPAP machine, it’s a sophisticated machine and it’s difficult. There are so many settings. Physicians can log in remotely and make the patient’s life easier. I think being able to understand and correlate the data that comes out of the CPAP machine and have a conversation with the patient about it improves the failure rate. The faster that conversation happens after using the CPAP machine, the better. 

HME: Another advancement that may potentially disrupt the model is GLP-1 medication.  

Verma: Even before GLP-1s, weight loss has been a great way to treat sleep apnea for a lot of people. But there are variations on this. I’ve had people lose 20 to 30 pounds and, post-sleep study, they no longer need their CPAP machine. I’ve had others who have lost 100 pounds, and they’ve improved but they still need their CPAP machine. Also, weight loss does not happen instantly, and patients may need their CPAP machine during that process.