Advocacy Articles
Updates about legislative and regulatory issues impacting the field of sleep medicine
Nearly one in 10 U.S. employers plans to drop health coverage for their workers within the next three years, according to a Deloitte study expected to be released shortly, the Wall Street Journal reports.
With the recent Supreme Court decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act, there is much speculation on how this legislation will change clinical practice. While the unknowns are greater than what we currently understand about the ACA, the AASM has been analyzing what is in store for sleep medicine. Over the next several weeks, the AASM website will provide a synopsis of certain provisions in the bill. This week will focus on the individual mandate.
Representative Denny Rehberg (R-Montana), chair of the Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, released his version of the subcommittee's fiscal year 2013 appropriations bill funding the departments of Labor, Education, HHS, and related agencies.
Automatic reductions in federal spending scheduled to take effect in 2013 would result in a 7.8 percent reduction in the budget for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). If these cuts take effect it would lead to the elimination of 2,300 new and competing NIH research project grants, and the downsizing of numerous other federal health programs.
Over the last several months the AASM has been very active meeting with legislators and administrators in Washington, D.C. to educate and obtain their support on our Safe Harbor proposal. As our members know, the current Medicare practice model of care for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is fragmented. Current policy and Federal law prevents a sleep physician from providing a sleep test and dispensing the therapeutic durable medical equipment (DME).
The United States Supreme Court is expended to hand down its much-anticipated ruling on the constitutionality of President Obama's health care reform law sometime today. No one outside of the court knows what decision the justices have made. The announcement is likely to be made sometime after 9 a.m. CST. AASM government analysts are closely following this story and will keep members updated. For live updates, follow the AASM on Twitter at @AASMorg.
Governor Bobby Jindal signed Senate Bill 637 (SB 637) into law. SB 637 amends the Louisiana Polysomnographic Practice Act (“Act”) by postponing licensure for sleep technologists until 2017.
Congratulations to the Delaware Sleep Society! Senate Bill 194 (SB 194), which establishes licensure for sleep technologists, was recently passed by both legislative chambers and has been submitted to the Governor for signature! The bill will require that on July 1, 2014, any person who is engaged in the practice of sleep technology must be licensed.
U.S. Department of Transportation launched an interactive, multimedia website intended to reduce on-the-job fatigue among railroad employees by advising them on the importance of obtaining healthy sleep to maintain individual well-being, safety and workplace performance. The Railroaders’ Guide to Healthy Sleep website features an anonymous self-test to screen for possible sleep disorders, a sleep and wake diary for tracking sleep and various tailored and effective strategies for improving the amount and quality of sleep obtained.
The Washington Post reports recent regulations intended to keep air traffic controllers from falling asleep on the job have been violated nearly 4,000 times. The regulations require controllers have at least nine hours off between shifts. Internal Federal Aviation Administration documents show that more than half of the airport control towers violated this rule at least once.