The American Academy of Sleep Medicine is teaming up with the California Sleep Society to continue advocating for a change to Blue Shield of California’s current positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy reimbursement policy. The payer recently updated its Medical Management of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome medical policy to deny reimbursement for PAP therapy when a device with only one respiratory monitoring belt is used in performing the patient’s diagnostic sleep study, despite ongoing AASM advocacy.
Both AASM clinical practice guidelines and the AASM Manual for the Scoring of Sleep and Associated Events support the use of devices with one respiratory monitoring belt. The AASM and the California Sleep Society are urging members to download and personalize a letter to request a policy update consistent with AASM guidelines and the Scoring Manual.
The letter can be sent to Medpolicy@blueshieldca.com. Members may send questions about this initiative to coding@aasm.org.
