Professional Staff Fact Sheet
Applicable Accreditation Standards
Qualifications of (Network, Site) Directors
- Must be sleep specialist who meets one of the following criteria:
- A Physician or PhD.
- Boarded in sleep by ABSM, AOA, ABMS.
- A physician who has completed a ACGME-accredited or AOA-accredited fellowship in sleep medicine and is eligible to sit for the sleep medicine board examination through an ABMS member board or AOA member board. The ABMS or AOA examination in sleep medicine must be passed within three consecutive examination cycles from fellowship completion.
- The examination may not be failed twice consecutively during this period.
Medical Staff Member
- Entities whose director is not a licensed physician must have at least one physician (MD or DO) with a valid, unrestricted license.
- Sleep Medical Staff members include physicians, license psychologists, APRN, (all may or may not be board-certified in sleep medicine) and PAs who hold valid licenses in states where patients are evaluated, diagnosed and treated.
Medical Staff Member Responsibilities
- Review information for each direct referral patient and determine if the patient meets the criteria for the requested test.
- Provide consultation, management, treatment, and follow-up assessments.
- Diagnose medical conditions as a licensed physician or APRN (if permitted under their scope of practice in certain states).
- Respond to medical emergencies as appropriate.
- Serve as the reference sleep specialist for ISR assessment, if board-certified, as defined in Standard N-1.
Key Things to Keep In Mind
- Entities must designate both a Network Director and a Site Director, who must be an MD or PhD board-certified in sleep medicine by the ABSM, ABMS, or AOA.
- One director may serve in both positions.
- If the director is not a licensed physician, there must be one licensed physician on staff who is board-certified in sleep medicine.
- Each director must spend a minimum of 4 hours/month fulfilling their responsibilities.
- This can be achieved through physical presence, teleconferencing, conference calls, virtual meetings, and/or webinars with professional and technical staff members.
- If one director fulfills both roles, a total of 8 hours per month is required.
- Sleep study interpretations made by individuals who are not board-certified in sleep medicine must be reviewed by a board-certified sleep specialist, as defined in Standards N-1 and N-3.