06/28/06

The Sleep Manufacturers Alliance, created to be the one-voice advocate among many sleep products manufacturers on issues related to sleep disordered breathing, held its first formal meeting in San Diego, May 23, 2006. The group is designed to positively impact current and future issues that are critically important to the field of sleep disordered breathing.

The first meeting, called to order by Ron Richard, senior vice president of market development at ResMed, San Diego, identified four broad categories of topics: educational, reimbursement, legislative and clinical as key areas of concentration for the Alliance. Four specific initial goals for the Alliance were also identified in the inaugural meeting:

•    Identify continuum of care models that could be used with both Medicare and commercial payers to improve the overall awareness of sleep disordered breathing;

•    Provide conference planners at the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) Sleep Institute a list of issues that the Alliance believes are important for the ACCP Sleep Institute to address at its September, 2006 conference;

•    Submit formal comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding proposed rules for competitive bidding as they relate to sleep disordered breathing. Additionally, the Alliance will encourage solicitation of comments on this subject from the pulmonary medicine societies, American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), American Thoracic Society (ATS), and the National Association of Medical Direction for Respiratory Care (NAMDRC). The Alliance will make copies of its comments available by the June 30, 2006 comment deadline;

•    Develop educational materials for Alliance customers regarding CMS’ proposed rules for competitive bidding and its impact.

The Alliance’s member companies include Embla (formerly MedCare), Fisher & Paykel, Invacare, Pro-Tech, Puritan Bennett, ResMed, Respironics, Sunrise Medical, and VIASYS.

The Sleep Manufacturers Alliance is committed to being the one-voice manufacturer advocate for sleep disordered breathing and other related sleep issues. The Alliance expects to have its own Web site up and running within 30-60 days.