The Shifting Sands of Sleep Apnea

Lack of sleep is bad in its own right, but now the knowledge that obstructive sleep apnea is a risk factor for and even a possible cause of heart disease adds urgency to what the medical community has until recently viewed as a quality of life problem. However, the existing infrastructure for diagnosing and treating OSA can neither handle the current demand nor the expected influx of new patients coming in from the cardiology community. New companies hope to fill gaps in diagnosis and therapy, but they face all the challenges of establishing technological and business approaches in an evolving field, with the need to change practice patterns, educate patients and multiple groups of physicians, and win the buy-in of payers.