Sleep app puts ‘patients at the center’

DARIEN, Ill. – A proposed web-based app called “MySleepVillage” took second place in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s first ever Change Agents, a contest designed to generate creative ideas for diagnosing and treating obstructive sleep apnea. 

The app aims to streamline patient communication and testing; connect to physicians, insurers and medical equipment companies; and provide options for remote monitoring of CPAP usage. The team behind it estimates that 10,000 app users could result in $42 million in health care savings. 

HME News spoke to team member, Seema Khosla, MD, about the importance of evaluating patients early on and taking the app from an idea to a robust platform. 

HME News: What was the genesis behind the proposal?  

Seema Khosla: Many of our patients become lost in the system. Right now, the system is geared around medical professionals rather than patients. We turned this around and kept patients at the center.  

HME: What gaps in the system does your proposal fill? 

Khosla: When I talk to my patients, they often expressed frustration, particularly in regard to insurance prior authorization. Many patients would become disgusted with the entire process and would give up on seeking care. By the time I finally saw them in the sleep clinic, they would tell me about having symptoms for many years and feeling discouraged from seeking further evaluation. We hope that our system will shepherd our patients from start to finish and will also recognize that the pathway is not always linear.  

HME: What’s the next step for your team? 

Khosla: We’ve received some very positive compliments and inquiries from industry leaders and potential investors. We’ve also been contacted by sleep industry associates interested in when this site will go live and how they can participate. This makes me feel like we are on the right track. We live in a world where Amazon and Google and Apple are trying to reinvent health care. Perhaps it’s our turn to step up and help to re-invent sleep care.