CDC director’s resignation triggered by purchase of tobacco stock
On Jan. 31 Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald resigned from her position as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as reports revealed that she had purchased stock in tobacco companies just one month after assuming her position at the [...]
ASMF congratulates 2018 Focused Projects Award recipients
The American Sleep Medicine Foundation (ASMF) congratulates the three recipients of the 2018 Focused Projects Award. Each recipient will receive up to $20,000 to fund their project. Learn more about the ASMF award programs. Focused Projects Award [...]
Clinician Well-Being and Resilience webinar is Friday, Feb. 2
On Friday, Feb. 2, 2018, from 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. EST, the National Academy of Medicine will host the webinar, Clinician Well-Being and Resilience, to release several resources and provide a first look at an online repository aimed at providing [...]
CMS to lead an interagency review of the Stark Law
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma recently indicated that CMS will form an interagency group to evaluate physician concerns about the Stark Law, according to reports by multiple outlets including Modern Healthcare and Fierce Healthcare. [...]
CDC reports that insufficient sleep is common in middle school and high school students
About 58 percent of middle school students and 73 percent of high school students report getting insufficient sleep on an average school night, according to a new analysis published today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It [...]
MIPS reporting is made simple with MIPSwizard
Now is the perfect time to complete your 2017 Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) reporting submission, and MIPSwizard will help you get started. Download this one-page overview to learn how quickly and easily you can complete your reporting for [...]
Senate confirms Azar as new HHS secretary
On Jan. 24, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Alex Azar, was confirmed by a 55-43 vote in the U.S. Senate. Azar is an HHS veteran who served during the [...]
Register for free NIH Clinical Trials Policies webinar
On Thursday, Feb. 1, the Sleep Research Society (SRS) and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) are hosting a free webinar, NIH Clinical Trials Policies. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has made changes to its clinical trials [...]
Register now for SLEEP 2018 in Baltimore
Registration is now open for SLEEP 2018, the 32nd annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC (APSS), which will be held on June 2-6, 2018, at the Baltimore Convention Center. Last year’s meeting was attended by nearly [...]
AMA and national stakeholders release consensus statement on prior authorization
On Jan. 18 the American Medical Association (AMA) released a Consensus Statement on Improving the Prior Authorization Process, together with the American Hospital Association, America’s Health Insurance Plans, American Pharmacists Association, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, and the [...]
MedPAC recommends that Congress eliminate MIPS
On Jan. 11 the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), an independent congressional agency charged with advising Congress on issues affecting Medicare, voted 14-2 to recommend that Congress eliminate the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). MIPS was established through the [...]
Bright light therapy improves sleep in people treated for cancer
DARIEN, IL – Results of a randomized controlled trial suggest that systematic bright light exposure can improve sleep for fatigued people who have been treated for cancer. The pilot study results show that mean sleep efficiency, the percentage of [...]
AASM invites you to join the American Alliance for Healthy Sleep
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine is excited to announce the formation of a new patient-focused membership organization, the American Alliance for Healthy Sleep (AAHS)! The AASM formed the AAHS to bring sleep patients and providers together to advance [...]
New American Alliance for Healthy Sleep now recruiting members
DARIEN, IL – The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) has formed a new patient-focused membership organization, the American Alliance for Healthy Sleep (AAHS), which is inviting both health care providers and patients with sleep disorders to become members. [...]
New guidelines are published for fatigue risk management in emergency medical services
New evidence-based guidelines in the journal Prehospital Emergency Care provide guidance to administrators of emergency medical services (EMS) on how to mitigate workplace fatigue. “Fatigue is widespread in EMS and is not isolated to one type of EMS operation [...]
Trump administration allows states to set Medicaid work requirements
On Jan. 11 the Trump White House released guidelines for a "community engagement initiative" that will allow states the opportunity to mandate work requirements for patients on Medicaid. In a letter from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services [...]
CDC reports that unsafe infant sleep practices remain common in U.S.
A new analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that a high rate of unsafe infant sleep practices is reported by mothers in the U.S. For the report, “Vital Signs: Trends and Disparities in Infant [...]
AMA report touts economic and job growth created by physicians
On Jan. 8 the American Medical Association (AMA) released the report, "The National Economic Impact of Physicians," which highlights the positive effects that physicians have on state and federal economies, job growth, and wage increases. The report is the [...]
Jurisdiction J transition to Palmetto GBA results in new sleep facility accreditation requirement
Due to a recent transition in the Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) for Jurisdiction J, sleep facilities in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee need to ensure that they meet all coverage provisions outlined in Palmetto GBA LCD L36593: Polysomnography, including the [...]
Fitbit reveals results from analysis of 6 billion nights of sleep data
In a Yahoo Finance exclusive, a Fitbit data scientist and Fitbit’s lead sleep research scientist discussed findings from their analysis of data from 6 billion nights of its customers’ sleep. In March 2017 Fitbit launched a new Sleep [...]
New Year’s message from Dr. Rosen
Dear AASM members, As 2017 comes to a close, I’m impressed by the AASM’s accomplishments this year. My term as AASM president began with the highly successful SLEEP meeting in Boston this past June. Since then, we have welcomed [...]
Sleep medicine year in review: View 10 of the top headlines and highlights from 2017
The end of 2017 brings to a close an eventful year for the field of sleep medicine that included the introduction by the AASM of new clinical practice guidelines, position statements and papers; expedited accreditation; and a mobile app [...]
Read the 10 most-viewed sleep research papers published in JCSM in 2017
Sleep research articles published in the past year in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine captured the attention of the scientific and medical communities, as well as the media and the general public. The following sleep research papers [...]
Report suggests that pulmonologists, psychiatrists and neurologists are in short supply
In a new white paper, "Physician Supply Considerations: The Emerging Shortage of Medical Specialists," physician recruiting firm Merritt Hawkins Associates argues that specialists such as pulmonologists, psychiatrists and neurologists are in just as short supply as primary care physicians [...]
NIH seeks sleep and Alzheimer’s research project applications
The National Institute on Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has issued a funding opportunity announcement, “Sleep disorders and circadian clock disruption in Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias of aging” (PAR-18-497). This FOA is aimed at [...]