Resmed to scale VirtuOx in bid to reduce bottleneck

SAN DIEGO – Resmed has acquired VirtuOx, a Coral Springs, Fla.-based IDTF, to address a bottleneck in sleep apnea testing that is creating "one of the biggest barriers" to CPAP therapy, says Resmed Chief Product Officer Justin Leong. 

VirtuOx, which provides home-based diagnostic testing and patient monitoring for sleep, respiratory and cardiac conditions, has served more than 5.8 million patients, more than 250,000 physicians and more than 4,000 DME partners since 2005. 

“We know that testing is a bottleneck, particularly in the United States,” Leong said. “It’s not easy and VirtuOx provides a super simple way for people to get tested at home. We think they have a great model.” 

VirtuOx, which is celebrating its 20th year in business, offers several home sleep apnea testing options, including NightOwl, a fingertip device that Resmed recently made commercially available across the United States. VirtuOx mails devices to patient homes and its sleep coaches provide setup guidance. 

As wearables and GLP-1 drugs drive more people to their doctors for help with their sleep, the bottleneck is likely to get worse before it gets better and Resmed sees VirtuOx as a vehicle for streamlining the process. 

“We just know more people will be coming in the front end and getting stuck, and we saw an opportunity to build out their digital ecosystem to automate a lot of the workflows to get patients through these steps (more efficiently),” Leong said. 

As part of Resmed, which has a large software development team, VirtuOx will be better positioned to support this “avalanche” of patients seeking testing, says VirtuOx Chief Marketing Officer Kyle Miko. 

“We’re at an inflection point in sleep apnea awareness and to be able to serve those patients and potentially save their lives, we need more resources,” he said. “When you’re privately held, you only have so many resources to hire additional staff and invest in additional R&D.” 

HME providers, some of whom already work with VirtuOx, stand to benefit from the deal as the company improves and expands its offerings, Leong says. 

“I’ve asked providers, ‘How is the flow of patients to you; are there delays?’” he said. “Many of them mentioned they were working with VirtuOx and they said the service was fast, simple and well-coordinated and that helped them get to patients faster.” 

Other details: 

• VirtuOx will operate as a fully owned subsidiary of Resmed following the transaction and will continue to serve partners and patients under its existing brand in the near term. Its leadership team will remain in place. 
• Resmed is not disclosing the financial terms of the acquisition as it’s not material to its financial results.