The cost of health care is expensive. It doesn’t always follow that you get more when you pay more. Costs are often inflated by the growing overhead required to keep up with the business of healthcare.

Fortunately, at Telasleep we are developing our own healthcare delivery model to provide the most quality care and the best price. Our major focus is providing the best care. The pricing is a secondary benefit. We avoid unnecessary testing and costly overhead. To provide a more detailed breakdown of our cost comparison offered on telasleep.com we will first look at the services offered by a typical specialist encounter.

Specialist evaluation services

Sleep disorders require an evaluation by a physician and often require sleep testing. Providers will often bill for three services. A consultation, sleep test and follow up sleep test. Most new patients are often billed for a level-4 encounter, which refers to the detail level of the visit.

Four common types of  sleep testing include:

• In lab polysomnograph (PSG)
• In lab CPAP titration
• Home sleep test
• Home APAP titration

We have broken down typical costs based on two common combinations of services that are offered. The first is a consultation, an in-lab PSG followed by a CPAP titration study. The second is a consultation, a home sleep test followed by an in-lab CPAP titration study.

Costs: example 1

Service	Est. charge	Est. reimbursement	Est. out of pocket cost
Consultation New patient	$500	$350	$150
In-lab Polysomnogram	$2500	$1750	$749
In-lab CPAP	$2700	$1890	$810
Totals	$5700	$3990	$1710

Costs: example 2

Service	Est. charge	Est. reimbursement	Est. out of pocket cost
Consultation New patient	$500	$350	$150
Home Sleep Test	$1099	$770	$330
In-lab CPAP	$2700	$1890	$810
Totals	$5700	$3010	$1290

While the combination of tests and costs vary by provider, we used averages for the 10003 area code (fairhealthconsumer.org), which were substantially similar to other area codes across New York. For example, the estimated charge for an in-lab polysomnogram in Queens was slightly higher than for Manhattan $2800 vs. $2500 but the visit cost was lower for Queens ($325 vs. $500).

How can we lower the cost so much?

Making use of evolving technology works to your advantage. Our consultation costs are only $49 because we can gather more information in a shorter period of time using proprietary technology developed by Dr. Michael Morgenstern. This technology gathers and analyzes data efficiently. We also offer the best and most affordable testing options. For example, a home sleep test is offered for $300 (including shipping). If a follow up study is needed we can usually follow up with a second home sleep test with an auto-titrating device that automatically detects breathing abnormalities and adjusts pressures automatically. This costs another $300. Therefore, patients can expect to pay somewhere from $350 – $650 including the cost of consultation and two sleep tests. This compares to $4000+ (out-of-pocket estimates $1300 – $1800) that is billed by other providers.

What if I need an in-lab study?

In-lab studies (also known as polysomnography or PSG) are recommended for some patients such as those who have severe pulmonary disease, neuromuscular disease or congestive heart failure. One of the main reasons for favoring PSG is that some patients may have episodes of decreased breathing (hypoventilation) without an “apnea” or respiratory event. Technically, the sensors used by home sleep tests and PSG to monitor breathing are the same and should have similar abilities to detect hypoventilation as well as other abnormal breathing patterns such as central sleep apnea and cheyne-stokes breathing. There are other advantages of in-lab PSG that I will not get into here. However, usually home sleep testing can be sufficient in the majority of patients.

When in-lab PSG is needed or if a patient is interested in paying a premium for an in-lab study we have several sleep labs to provide these services . Other times, initial  testing is inconclusive and we may recommend a repeat study in a lab setting. (It should be noted that repeat testing occurs with both home sleep tests and in-lab studies.) In these cases, we have several locations for performing an in-lab study across New York State. Whether you receive an in-lab study or a home study, we will review the results and schedule a follow up visit to continue your care. We strive to provide the best service and utilizing the newest technologies we hope to achieve our goal in an efficient and affordable way.