New Legislation in Oklahoma Addresses Sleep Diagnostic Testing

On May 27, Governor Brad Henry signed Senate Bill 810 (SB 810), the “Oklahoma Sleep Diagnostic Testing Regulation Act” into law. The preface for SB 810 states that there is a growing need for sleep diagnostic testing in the state and that Oklahoma law does not provide sufficient regulation for sleep diagnostic testing to assure the protection of the public. The introduction closes by saying that there is a need to provide legislation to regulate persons performing sleep diagnostic testing on the citizens of Oklahoma. SB 810 will require facilities and physicians to adhere to certain standards:

• Require that the interpreting physician is board-certified in sleep medicine by the American Board of Sleep Medicine (ABSM);
• Require that the supervising physician is board-certified in sleep medicine by the American Board of Sleep Medicine (ABSM);
• On and after January 1, 2010, sleep diagnostic testing facilities would be required to be fully or provisionally certified or accredited by the:
  • American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM)
  • Joint Commission
  • Accreditation Commission for Healthcare (ACHC)

Members can view the full text online through the Oklahoma text search and retrieval system.