Use of Anti-Snoring Device Rises

Sleep experts say the CPAP growth is not surprising, given the increased attention to sleep apnea.

About $2 billion worth of the devices are sold annually worldwide, with most sales in the USA, says Marketdata, a market research publication based in Tampa.

The machines cost $200 to $1,500 or more. Medicare generally pays 80 percent. Patients pay 20 percent.

Some experts warn there is a potential for unneeded prescriptions for CPAPs. "Are people getting treatment they don't need?" asks Fred Holt of the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, composed of health insurers and law enforcement groups.

"Not everyone with a diagnosis of sleep apnea needs CPAP," says Holt, an ear, nose and throat surgeon. "Weight loss, avoiding alcohol and sedatives at bedtime or changing sleep position could eliminate the problem for some."

For others, treatment involves sleeping with a mask connected to the CPAP machine, which blows air into the patient's nose, helping prevent obstruction to breathing.

Until this spring, Medicare would pay for CPAP machines only if a sleep center diagnosed patients with apnea. New rules say a diagnosis can be made with a test taken at home.

Opponents say home testing is less accurate. "To be adequately treated, you have to make sure patients are adequately diagnosed," says Mary Susan Esther, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, a trade group representing sleep labs.

Proponents such as William Abraham, a sleep expert and chief of the division of cardiovascular medicine at Ohio State University, say the change makes it possible for more patients to get tested.

"By allowing home testing, perhaps Medicare is opening the floodgates," he says. Yet given the problems of untreated apnea, "it's not only the right thing to do, but may ultimately prove to be a cost savings."

Testing Centers Spread

Sleep testing centers, where patients stay overnight for observation, have boomed nationwide -- including in Lady Lake.