Booking sleep study w/o insurance, in CA

[newmar]

I'm in Los Angeles and would like to book an overnight sleep study, paying out of pocket (my insurance won't cover it).

Will do a web search and call places for pricing, but wondering if anyone has any add'l advice about finding a place on the relatively less expensive side?

[DeepBreathing]

G'day newmar. First question - why do you feel you need a sleep study? You have a machine already and have presumably been using it for at least a couple of years - OSCAR (which has replaced SleepyHead) will give you a very good indication of what's happening. Often the OSCAR daily charts give us almost as much useful information as a formal test.

Second question - have you considered an at-home test? A number of the on-line DMEs will provide an at-home test kit, interpret the results and provide a prescription if necessary. It's not as detailed as a "proper" in-hospital test, but again it gives you a pretty good idea of what's happening at a lower cost.

[3rdMarDiv]

Fortunately I was covered for my sleep study test, but I did see the bill for it. Unbelievable..! If I remember correctly it was like 30 thousand..? Some insane number.

Definitely look at either using or getting some insurance coverage.

You should communicate your thoughts and post some charts here on the forum and let some of the pros, like deepbreathing, give you feedback.

[newmar]

Thanks for the responses.

"why do you feel you need a sleep study?"

Cpap works for me, but I'd much prefer to use an oral appliance, at least some of the time. So I'd like to find out how effective my TAP oral appliance is.

"have you considered an at-home test?"

Yes, I actually found a ResMed Apnealink Air kit on ebay. Unfortunately I'm having an issue downloading data from the device to the Apnealink software (http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...port-issue). I will consider renting one.

" If I remember correctly it was like 30 thousand..? "

Yikes! I didn't realize how insanely expensive those are.

[Big Guy]

My insurance paid for both of my in-lab sleep studies. I have no idea as to what it cost though. I now have a feeling that I don't want to know. 

[Sleeprider]

Newmar, what is your baseline AHI without therapy (your original diagnosticc results). Oral devices can work, but results vary, an the efficacy is less than CPAP. If you had moderate or severe obstructive sleep apnea, then an oral device is probably not a great solution. for mild apnea, and hypopnea it can ertainly make a difference. Be aware that many users of the mandibular advancement devies have complained of pain and bite problems. You may substitute one problem for another.

If going out of pocket, a home sleep study is less inexpensive,but consider that if your doctor orders a study to confirm efficay of an oral device, it's potentially covered by insurance.

[newmar]

what is your baseline AHI without therapy

AHI 8 without therapy.

Oral devices can work, but results vary, an the efficacy is less than CPAP.

Right, that's my understand, but I have a sibling who had an overnight sleep test with an oral appliance that showed it was effective in treating their OSA.

Be aware that many users of the mandibular advancement devies have complained of pain and bite problems. You may substitute one problem for another.

Good point, I will take that into account.

...that if your doctor orders a study to confirm efficay of an oral device, it's potentially covered by insurance.

I looked into it, my insurance won't cover a sleep study for testing oral device.

[3rdMarDiv]

I had a thought and I'm sure some other, more knowledgeable, parties can comment further about this, but can you just rent a CPAP machine. If you could rent say a ResMed 10 vAuto for a week or so you could go a long way toward self titration. With the help of some of the experts here you could post some charts and get very good advice.

There are a number of people on this site who have just went out and obtained their own machine and did just what I'm suggesting.

I have a Respironics machine and recently picked up and tested the machine mentioned above. It is very versatile and has many basic and advanced functions. The reports and amounts of information it generates could be dialed in to give you a really good picture of your sleep conditions.

I used it for this purpose and did make some adjustments on my other machine.

Many people on this site are basically self titrators. (or would that be self-titrators)  

Just a thought.

[newmar]

Thanks for the reply. I did buy a second hand ResMed Auto S9 CPAP, and have used that with the oral appliance to get an idea of best titration setting. However, the APAP machine only goes to a min. of 4 cm pressure. So that will help with best oral appliance position, but I won't be able to determine what my AHI would be without any CPAP pressure.

I had a thought and I'm sure some other, more knowledgeable, parties can comment further about this, but can you just rent a CPAP machine. If you could rent say a ResMed 10 vAuto for a week or so you could go a long way toward self titration. With the help of some of the experts here you could post some charts and get very good advice.

There are a number of people on this site who have just went out and obtained their own machine and did just what I'm suggesting.

I have a Respironics machine and recently picked up and tested the machine mentioned above. It is very versatile and has many basic and advanced functions. The reports and amounts of information it generates could be dialed in to give you a really good picture of your sleep conditions.

I used it for this purpose and did make some adjustments on my other machine.

Many people on this site are basically self titrators. (or would that be self-titrators)  

Just a thought.

[3rdMarDiv]

I would recommend you start a new thread and relay some background information about yourself. You should supply information about the machine that you would like to implement.Someone could pick up from there and get you started in the right direction.