Dr. Watson: It pays to help patients take that final step

MADISON, Wis. – When patients receive an obstructive sleep apnea diagnosis but don’t initiate successful PAP therapy, that creates an opportunity cost across the health care continuum, says Nathaniel Watson, MD, chief medical officer at EnsoData. 

“Once somebody's gotten all the way to that point, it's actually really important to get them to be adherent to their treatment,” he said. “To lose out on that last little step is problematic because of all the resource allocation that has gone into it up to that point.” 

EnsoData recently collaborated with the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore on a study that found costs were reduced by $195 per-member per-month over 24 months for Medicare beneficiaries with common chronic health conditions who initiated PAP therapy. 

Watson spoke with HME News recently about the study’s findings and how predictive technology can improve patient adherence and bottom lines. 

HME News: Why did EnsoData undertake a study that looked at the cost benefits of PAP adherence? 

Dr. Nate Watson: We're always interested in the economics of sleep medicine, and then the other thing is, sleep apnea is dramatically underdiagnosed and undertreated and so we're always interested in trying to help payers and Medicare and Medicaid understand the opportunity to positively impact health care costs. We're just trying to broaden the conversation around the economic benefits of sleep apnea diagnosis and treatment. 

HME: Was there anything from the study that surprised you? 

Watson: It was surprising that the findings remained consistent across all seven of the medical and psychiatric subgroups, as well as among individuals with multiple co-morbidities. What else is maybe a little bit surprising: In the people who did initiate the path (to PAP therapy), 81% met the 90-day adherence criteria. That's a robust adherence number. 

HME: How does predictive technology help to drive a robust adherence number? 

Watson: EnsoData’s EnsoTherapy helps DME companies and others understand which patients are going to struggle more getting to adherence with PAP therapy early on in their treatment journey. By identifying those people early on, then (health care) providers and DME companies can intervene to address the problems and, ultimately, increase treatment adherence. This is important because there's such a shortage of sleep medicine doctors and clinics. 

HME: Are you finding that payers, patients and DME companies are embracing predictive technology? 

Watson: I do. We're all in the business of optimally treating diseases and from a payer perspective I think this study shows that if we can get people diagnosed and successfully treated that you're going to reduce health care costs and that those savings can be deployed in in other ways within the health care system. Everybody wins when we acknowledge the economic benefits and overall health care benefits of successfully treating sleep apnea.