New York, NY, July 31: While many Americans are no strangers to lack of sleep and its debilitating effects, obstructive sleep apnea or OSA, a chronic sleep disorder where people stop breathing during sleep, is a growing concern. The American Thoracic Society is collaborating with four health-system teams to close the gap in the screening and diagnosis of OSA. The “ATS Quality Improvement Project: Optimizing Sleep Apnea Diagnosis in Primary Care,” funded by Eli Lilly, launched this year.
West Virginia University, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, the San Francisco Health Network/University of California San Francisco, and the Mount Sinai Health System manage care across a diverse pool of patients. Having demonstrated expertise in sleep medicine and quality improvement, each of these health systems will partner with their primary care colleagues to learn how to increase identification and testing of OSA.
According to the National Institutes of Health, an estimated 83 million Americans live with OSA; approximately 80 to 90 percent of them are undiagnosed.
“The staggering number of patients who remain undiagnosed suggests that there are systemic barriers to engaging patients,” said ATS President Michelle Ng Gong, MD, ATSF. “As an organization committed to equity in health care, the ATS is proud be spearheading this quality improvement initiative focused on addressing both common and system-specific barriers to OSA diagnosis. Ultimately, we aim to increase primary care engagement with OSA screening and diagnosis, streamline sleep testing processes, and improve access to sleep medicine specialists.”