811 Lessons from a Pandemic - Streamlining Sleep Apnea Care; is the future here?

Abstract

Introduction: Ready access to optimal care for sleep-related breathing disorders (SRBD) remains a major barrier to the vast majority of an estimated 25 million Americans with undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnea. This barrier includes lack of readily available sleep medicine expert contact, health care insurance navigation challenges and difficulties with continuity of care. Chronic pervasive gaps in sleep medicine care were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. While numerous models were previously proposed to bridge SRBD care gaps, sustained and quantifiable success has been elusive. Methods: Deploying interactive technology and artificial intelligence, we designed and implemented a novel, user-friendly integrated medium named Ognomy - the Sleep Apnea App, to mitigate widespread SRBD care access gaps. Multi-faceted but unified open access was made widely available, allowing bidirectional patient-provider interaction through a Web App. Individuals or surrogates who suspect that they or dependents suffer from SRBD are able to readily establish secure access to Ognomy. Patients can independently download and interact with the application on-demand and around the clock. Results: From April 2020 to date, more than seven thousand (7,726) Ognomy App downloads have been documented. Over a thousand (1,169) patient registrations have occurred on Ognomy. Five hundred seventy-four (49.1%) of Ognomy App registrants have since been provided hitherto difficult, cumbersome access to full care, by a boardcertified Sleep Medicine provider. Four hundred eighty-nine (85.2%) of the 574 patients managed via Ognomy's care provision chain proceeded to complete sleep diagnostic testing and follow up. Conclusion: Availability of a readily accessible and affordable multifaceted platform for care of sleep-related breathing disorders will mitigate the burden of untreated SRBD in the United Sates and worldwide. Ognomy, a Sleep as a Software service, is a novel integrated tool, bridging chronic gaps in sleep apnea care. Measures that significantly alter the trajectory of Sleep Medicine care now and in the future, have the potential to systematically close existing SRBD care gaps worldwide. Innovative tools such as algorithmic scheduling, Blockchain utility for platform interoperability, facilitating insurance benefit verifications, deployed in tandem with delivery drone systems for home sleep testing, should enhance turnaround time and improve care currently available for SRBD.