Advocacy Articles
Updates about legislative and regulatory issues impacting the field of sleep medicine
On Nov. 9 and 10, 2021, a diverse group of sleep health advocates held virtual Capitol Hill visits with 11 congressional offices to advocate for legislative policies and issues important to AASM members and the larger sleep community. The meetings built on the productive [...]
On Sept. 21, the Congressional Sleep Health Caucus held its first briefing for legislative staff. The virtual briefing focused on issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic and allowed legislative staff to learn about the importance of sleep health from several sleep experts. Patient concerns, [...]
The AASM is up for a five-year review of its representation in the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates. Participation enables the AASM to represent the sleep specialty in two key committees overseeing practice and reimbursement issues: The AMA/Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update [...]
The AASM and several medical societies and patient advocacy organizations submitted a letter on June 22 to the durable medical equipment (DME) Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) requesting support from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for patients affected by the recall of [...]
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine board of directors has developed a new position statement declaring that sleep is a biological necessity, and insufficient sleep and untreated sleep disorders are detrimental for health, well-being and safety. The statement supports the AASM vision that, "Sleep [...]
On April 13-14, 2021, members of the AASM Advocacy Committee and Political Action Committee held virtual Capitol Hill visits with 14 congressional offices to advocate for policies that promote sleep health and address the AASM’s legislative and policy agenda. The AASM delegation focused on [...]
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) organized and coordinated a multi-society initiative involving 20 organizations to develop and submit a comprehensive comment letter in response to the draft CPAP technology assessment and appendix posted recently by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [...]
On Dec. 2, 2020, CMS published the much-anticipated final rule, “Modernizing and Clarifying the Physician Self-Referral Regulations,” which establishes exceptions to the physician self-referral law — known as the Stark Law — for certain value-based compensation arrangements between or among physicians, providers, and suppliers. [...]
DARIEN, IL — The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has established a Congressional Sleep Health Caucus to emphasize the necessity of healthy sleep for optimal health and to promote high quality, patient-centered care for the millions of Americans who have sleep disorders. The caucus [...]
On Nov. 20, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule to modernize and clarify the regulations that interpret the Medicare physician self-referral law (often called the “Stark Law”). According to CMS, the final rule creates new, permanent exceptions to [...]