Sleep Titans Team Up on Education for PCPs

SAN DIEGO, Calif., and MURRYSVILLE, Pa. — ResMed and
Philips Respironics put aside their friendly competition this week
just long enough to publicize a joint effort to boost sleep apnea
education and awareness in the medical community. Shelving the
quest for market share (at least for a day), the two titans of
sleep medicine announced in an Oct. 27 press briefing they are
joining forces to lend support and funding to educate primary care
physicians about untreated sleep apnea.

According to the manufacturers, research in the last five years
has changed the field of sleep medicine. With approximately one in
five U.S. adults suffering from mild obstructive sleep apnea and
roughly 90 percent believed to be undiagnosed, along with mounting
scientific evidence of comorbidities such as diabetes, obesity and
cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea is a growing public health
issue.

In August, findings from one of the largest and most
comprehensive multicenter studies, the Sleep Heart Health Study,
demonstrated an increased risk of mortality in moderate to severe
sleep apnea when untreated, raising the death risk 46 percent.
Because it is such an important issue, the two sleep market leaders
said they have joined together in the effort to improve the medical
community’s understanding through continuing medical education and
outreach.

Beginning this month, live programs on the subject are being
offered through two independent primary care education providers,
Primary Care Network and Pri-Med Institute, in 17 cities across the
United States. Organizers said it is the first time sleep apnea is
being presented as a standalone topic during the typical one- to
two-day seminars. The goal is to educate 7,200 clinicians by June
2010.

In the programs, primary care, family practice, internal
medicine doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants will
learn about symptoms of sleep apnea, screening implementation,
diagnostic pathways, therapy and the latest research on the
association of mortality and morbidity with untreated sleep apnea.
They can also earn 1.25 CME credits for each program.

In the first five sessions earlier this month, close to 2,000
participants joined to learn more about sleep apnea, company
officials said. Barbara Phillips, MD, MSPH, professor of Pulmonary
Medicine, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, University of Kentucky
College of Medicine, who led a Pri-Med seminar Oct. 15-16 in
Charlotte, N.C., noted in a release on the program that “the
questions posed by the audience indicated a high degree of interest
and involvement in the care of patients with sleep apnea. It is
gratifying to see this level of interest.”

“This combined effort will help tackle the challenges the
industry faces in providing sleep apnea education to primary care
providers,” explained Ann Tisthammer, vice president, clinical
education, Americas, ResMed. “Because sleep apnea diagnosis and
treatment does not receive the sense of urgency it should in their
practice, we believe supporting the CME programs will raise the
level of awareness.”

Tisthammer said the seminars are ideal for physicians to learn
more about the relationship between sleep apnea and comorbidities.
“If we take a look at the sleep apnea prevalence data with various
comorbidities, we see some pretty significant associations,” she
said. “Eighty percent of drug-resistant hypertension patients have
sleep apnea. Seventy-seven percent of obese patients have sleep
apnea, and we have a 26 percent obesity rate in the United
States.”

JC Kyrillos, ResMed’s senior vice president, sales, marketing
and clinical education, Americas, told health reporters that
educational grants to Primary Care and Pri-Med ensure excellence
and fairness. According to Kyrillos, implementing the program
through “grants with independent organizations that can drive CMEs”
assured that the educators would not be “influenced by either
manufacturer.”

Officials from both companies believe that one of the simplest
ways to increase awareness and identify the millions of
unidentified patients with sleep apnea is to educate front-line
physicians. Eoghan O’Lionaird, senior vice president and general
manager-sleep for Philips Home Healthcare Solutions, noted that,
until recently, medical schools have not prepared physicians for
the challenge of undiagnosed sleep apnea. “The research in the last
five years alone has changed the field of sleep medicine and our
understanding of its impact and consequences,” said O’Lionaird.
“CME is a great forum to increase the knowledge of physicians on a
condition and its therapy.”

But if utilization ultimately goes way up, will payers push
back? Kyrillos doesn’t think so. “We think many payers are
realizing that by treating sleep apnea, you are actually treating
the related comorbidities,” he said. “As a result, you are going to
have better health care outcomes and lower overall costs.”

In a Q&A during the briefing, Tracy Nasca, founder and
senior vice president of Talk About Sleep, pointed out that
diabetes education is usually reimbursable, but what about sleep
education? Tisthammer responded that both companies are involved
with the American College of Chest Physicians to carve out a sleep
apnea educator role, and there are distinct possibilities for going
down that road if proper certifications can be agreed upon.

Both Nasca and Barbara Rogers, president and CEO of the National
Emphysema/COPD Association, commented that the educational effort
in the physician community is both needed and welcome.

Sleep education and awareness have been a central focus for both
ResMed and Philips Respironics, the manufacturers said. Both
companies also will continue to support the ACCP Sleep Institute
program with half-day CME programs to be held across the United
States. That program educates 300 to 500 physicians annually.

Check www.primarycareed.com or www.pri-med.com for
information on the sessions and a schedule of cities and dates.