Since February 2019, the Ministry of Health has led a detailed review of the service delivery environment for the provision of sleep medicine in British Columbia. This includes facilities providing home-based, overnight diagnostic obstructive sleep apnea testing services (commonly known as “four-channel” or “level 3” home sleep apnea testing).
The work of this important review is still ongoing; however, it has become clear that there is a provincial need for the diagnostic capacity that home-based, overnight obstructive sleep apnea testing facilities provide. To that end, the Ministry of Heath has directed the Diagnostic Accreditation Program (DAP) to accredit all home-based, overnight obstructive sleep apnea testing facilities in British Columbia.
Work to date has included:
- detailed national and international jurisdictional surveys/scans
- scientific and literature review
- establishment of an expert Sleep Medicine Advisory Group
- broad stakeholder engagement
- addressing physician education by re-establishing sleep medicine guidelines, through the Medical Services Commission’s Guidelines and Protocols Advisory Committee
The first step towards accreditation is for all facilities to enrol in the DAP’s home sleep apnea testing (HSAT) program. Once enrolled, facilities will be provided with additional information about the initial assessment process to obtain provisional accreditation.
All HSAT facilities must be enrolled by September 1, 2020 to continue to provide HSAT services in BC. The enrolment form can be found here.
For more information on the DAP accreditation processes, refer to the College website.