Home Article Sleep therapy: Physician access creates delays

Sleep therapy: Physician access creates delays

Updated 9:46 AM CDT, Fri May 16, 2025

YARMOUTH, Maine – There’s a bottleneck in the sleep therapy process, according to 83% of respondents to a recent HME Newspoll, and physicians are the biggest reason for it, they say.

The largest share of respondents blamed the time it takes to get a referral for a sleep physician as the biggest contributor to the bottleneck (31%), followed by the time it takes to get an initial visit with a primary care physician (25%).

The common theme: physicians.

“Most physicians are booked out months,” wrote one respondent. “The testing process is booked out months. To get set up, it takes a month. Plus, if you’re new to an area, to get a PCP, it takes eight to 12 months.”

Other respondents cited delays in testing (18.75%), scoring and diagnosis (12.5%), and therapy (12.5%) as contributors to the bottleneck.

Respondents reported that when patients finally get to the point of starting therapy, there’s another bottleneck: insurers.

“The biggest bottleneck is prior authorization requirements among the different insurance plans,” wrote one respondent. “The problem is that everyone is different, so we have to call the insurance company every time, spending hours on the phone. Every plan can also have different (requirements for) rentals, compliance timelines and then conversion after compliance. Some require authorization every three months of rental; some just for initial therapy; (and) some for purchase after compliance is achieved.”

To reduce the bottleneck, PCPs need to be better educated on sleep apnea and the pathway for getting patients tested and treated, respondents reported.

“Physicians – PCPs in particular – require greater tools and resources to help them quickly identify patients with OSA issues, take the proper steps to educate those patients and then have them tested/screened and placed on therapy as required,” wrote one respondent.

Reducing the bottleneck may also require re-thinking the sleep therapy process, respondents reported.

“This isn’t a new thing,” wrote one respondent. “Physicians and referral sources are very comfortable with a wait list – seemingly unaware that their services (increasingly) can be obtained online, often much more quickly and cheaper.”

“The bottleneck will be good to unplug, but it will be at the expense of the traditional facility-based sleep lab and sleep physician referral channel,” wrote another respondent.