AFFORDABILITY
Underserved people in the U.S. have barriers to access and affordability of sleep assessments and treatments.
Sleep assessment, diagnosis, and treatment is not attainable for many people in the U.S. because of cost and silos of access. The testing process can be costly for someone without knowing if they need treatment until the sleep study is read by the sleep physician. Medical debt is an issue for millions in the United States.
For some the thought of going to a physician brings up the issue of incurring more medical debt.
Also, if someone wants to track their sleep quality the commercially available sleep trackers are costly and more attainable for those with more financial resources. Sleep is not a luxury and access to healthy sleep should be accessible to all across the lifespan without adding to medical debt.
-Sleep Deserts (Access)
-Medicare Not paying for home sleep testing (Access)
-Pulse oximeters inaccurate for dark skinned individuals (Barrier to accurate reading and like covid delaying treatment prioritization based on inaccurate readings-Access)
-Overall cost of sleep testing, medications, equipment (Affordability)
Affordability and access to assessment, diagnosis and treatment for socioeconomically challenged minoritized populations-copays, location of assessments, supports for treatment success, affordability of devices with oxygen measurement (Digital equity issue)
Access to tonsillectomy's for Black and Latino down syndrome children who have sleep apnea
Sleep studies for minority children with downs syndrome (LAURIE CHILDRENS Hospital!!!!!)
Need to come up with solutions!
