Lofty goals at Lofta

SAN DIEGO - New provider Jay Levitt wants to revolutionize the sleep therapy space with a streamlined path to treatment and “shockingly” good customer service.

“We've created a holistic experience that people can navigate in under a week for screening, testing, diagnosis and treatment,” said Levitt, founder of Lofta. “I just got off the phone with a man who has been putting off getting tested for 10 years because the thought of going to sleep labs and doctors and all of these other fragmented inefficient steps taking 60 days are a nonstarter.”

At press time, Lofta's full launch was about 90 to 120 days out, but Levitt says he's already fielding calls from consumers attracted to the company's “Complete Path” program, which takes patients from screening to diagnosis to therapy in a week or less. Seventy percent of people don't make it through the traditional path, which can include a visit to a sleep lab and can take much longer, says Levitt.

“We pull them through the (typically) arduous stage of getting diagnosed and quickly move from the problem to the solution,” he said. “We pull 100% through the path and our compliance rate is in the high 90s.”

The cost: $399.

“We are completely off the grid with insurance,” he said. “Most people find, with copays and deductibles, and the inconvenience on top of it, that they'll end up paying more to go to sleep labs. This is completely affordable.”

Lofta will only offer ResMed sleep products, which Levitt believes will enhance the shopping experience for customers, who won't have to wade through thousands of SKUs. He is particularly gung-ho about ResMed's new AirMini, and in August launched www.buyminicpap.com, dedicated exclusively to the new travel CPAP.

“We feel like this is the perfect product to bring our name to the market,” he said. “It's sexy, it's primarily cash pay and it's got the Apple-like feeling to it.”

Lofta offers a 30-day no-risk trial, free shipping and even a 12-month 0% interest payment program for the AirMini—policies that will carry over to its main e-commerce site, says Levitt.

“It's an expensive proposition to spend $1,000 on a CPAP,” he said. “We wanted to take the risk out of it.”

Levitt hopes his entry into the sleep space will also help change the larger conversation about sleep apnea, which he says still has a stigma associated with it.

“We are trying to come at it more from a wellness standpoint,” he said. “This is good stuff to talk about: If you have sleep apnea and you treat it, it's such a life changer.”