Sree Roy
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Health journalist. Chief editor of Sleep Review, editorial director of MEDQOR. Freelancer writer and editor.
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Articles by Sree Roy
First AI Scoring Software Earns AASM Full Autoscoring Certification
Key takeaways: EnsoData’s EnsoSleep is the first to receive full autoscoring certification from the AASM. The certification validates performance across sleep staging, respiratory events, arousals, and periodic limb movements. The independent evaluation assesses performance against a dataset of more than 140 real-world polysomnography studies.
The Medicare GLP-1 Discount Has One Big Catch: Some Sick Patients Don’t Qualify
Aug 25, 2026 In January, Jeff La Marca got a prescription for the popular weight loss drug Zepbound. But he couldn’t afford the $750 monthly price tag. Then Medicare launched an 18-month pilot program that offers GLP-1 medications to some enrollees for only $50 a month. La Marca thought he might finally be able to afford the drug. “I thought, ‘Thank God, there’s a path,’” said La Marca, who lives in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and has tried numerous diets and exercise regimes.
Why Community Belongs in the Narcolepsy Treatment Plan
I recently spoke with Liz Burgess, the new executive director of Narcolepsy Network, who took the helm during the organization’s 40th anniversary. Her appointment comes at a pivotal time, with the first orexin agonists marking what she calls a “historic shift in the sleep disorder space” for treating the root cause of narcolepsy type 1. But our conversation quickly moved beyond pharmacology to the human side of care—the part that happens after a patient leaves the clinic with a new prescription.
Scaling Sleep Success: How Medical-Dental Collaboration Works in Practice
For nearly two decades, sleep physician Mark Rasmus, MD, and dental sleep medicine practitioner Jamison Spencer, DMD, MS, have developed a collaborative model that connects their separate medical and dental practices while allowing each to maintain its own clinical operations and business structure.
How Should Clinicians Measure Success in Central Sleep Apnea Treatment?
A growing cohort of sleep physicians and researchers argues that a narrow focus on the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) may overlook the outcomes that matter most to people with central sleep apnea (CSA): how these patients feel and function during the day. This shift toward patient-centered metrics is particularly relevant for patients with atrial fibrillation, a population in which CSA is highly prevalent but often underdiagnosed.
How Wearables Are Updating Our Understanding of Sleep
Sleep data collection usually represents a fragmented snapshot of a person’s typical experience. Foundational tools like single-night in-lab polysomnography and retrospective self-report questionnaires do not account for night-to-night variability or for sleep’s nuanced relationship with other behaviors.
7 Takeaways From the New RLS Foundation Treatment Algorithm
So much has changed in the management of restless legs syndrome (RLS) in just the last few years that the Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Foundation’s scientific and medical advisory board published an updated treatment algorithm in May 2026, replacing its 2021 version. Published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, it is a practical guide for clinicians (from sleep specialists to primary care physicians).
Home Sleep Testing Is Getting a Shiny Complexity-Based Coding System
The regulatory framework overhaul for home sleep testing moves forward with its most significant revision in nearly two decades. Following years of collaboration between the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and other specialty societies, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed new family of Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes for unattended sleep testing in the Federal Register on July 16, 2026. The public comment period is open until Sept 14, 2026.
A Spike in Broken Oral Appliance Reports Raises Questions
While prepping for a webinar presentation that included information on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) status of oral appliances, dentists Sue Ellen Richardson, DDS, DABDSM, FAASM, and Aaron Glick, DDS, FICOI, FAGD, DABDSM, were surprised to see a spike in adverse event reports for oral appliances in the FDA Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE) database. The query started out innocently.
The Race to Validate Novel EEG Sleep Metrics Before It’s Too Late
Paid for by YRT Limited By Sree Roy Magdy Younes, MD, FRCP(C), PhD, has spent decades identifying electroencephalogram (EEG)-derived metrics to better understand the nuances of human sleep. Now 87 years old, he finds himself in a race against time. Younes wants to see his life’s work validated in sleep medicine before he dies. Many sleep professionals are already familiar with Odds Ratio Product (ORP), Younes’ flagship metric for measuring sleep depth.
Treating Narcolepsy Around the Clock
The emergence of orexin receptor 2 (OX2R) agonists represents a shift in the therapeutic approach to narcolepsy type 1 (NT1). These investigational compounds are designed to replace the signaling of the orexin neuropeptides (also known as hypocretin) that are lost in patients with NT1. By targeting the underlying cause of the disease, researchers are now evaluating whether a single intervention can address the full 24-hour cycle of the disorder.
Why Microsleeps May Redefine ‘Quality of Wake’ in Narcolepsy Type 1
Traditionally, the success of therapeutic interventions for excessive daytime sleepiness is measured through the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT) and the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT), both of which prioritize “sleep onset latency”—the number of minutes a patient can remain awake or how quickly they fall asleep. However, these metrics may fail to capture the nuanced “quality of wakefulness” that patients experience between those measured intervals.
Narcolepsy Treatments Are Advancing. Can Access?
At SLEEP 2026, I felt a buzz in the narcolepsy arena, where pharmaceutical companies showcased drugs and drug candidates with the potential to be transformative. But my excitement was tempered by a concern: Are advancements in narcolepsy pharmacology reaching the diverse patient populations who could benefit from them? According to new claims database analyses, the answer is no.
The CPAP Mask Feature with Greatest Positive Impact
For sleep techs, respiratory therapists, and sleep lab managers in Sleep Review’s audience, the results are clear: the most valued quality of CPAP masks is their ability to seal well. The importance of a solid seal arose several times in our latest Peer Pulse survey, which investigated trends in CPAP masks. When asked to select up to three mask features that have had the greatest positive impact, 57% of respondents pointed to better sealing technologies, making it the top choice.
The Push Precision OSA Care Needed
When the options are limited to devices or surgery, the clinical management of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is, in most cases, binary: either a patient adheres to CPAP therapy, or they seek an alternative, such as an oral appliance.
Faster Home Sleep Testing Starts With Better Workflows
Disposable home sleep tests (HSTs) offer a compelling proposition for sleep practices: simplified logistics, reduced administrative burden, and increased patient access. By eliminating the need to clean, track, and manage a fleet of reusable devices, clinics can streamline their diagnostic processes and potentially increase testing capacity without significant staff increases. But the operational benefits of disposables aren’t automatic. And they hinge on more than just the device’s per-unit cost.
How to Improve Pediatric PSG Tolerance
An in-lab polysomnogram (PSG) is the gold standard for diagnosing many pediatric sleep disorders, but the experience can be challenging for young patients and their families, not to mention for the sleep tech conducting the study. After all, a successful study hinges on the child’s ability to tolerate a complex array of sensors and wires in an unfamiliar environment, a potential difficulty for any child and more so for those with sensory sensitivities or anxiety.
The Wearables Debate Is Evolving
The relationship between sleep medicine professionals and consumer sleep trackers has been fraught. Patients arrive at clinics armed with colorful apps and sleep scores, while sleep specialists often view these general wellness technologies skeptically, citing a lack of diagnostic-grade vetted accuracy and the potential for orthosomnia.
Consumer Sleep Data Likely Houses Clues to Cases of Undiagnosed OSA
A paradox bedevils the sleep medicine subspecialty: patients are sleeping next to more sensors than ever before, yet the vast majority of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) cases remain hidden. Consumer sleep tracking data typically exists in proprietary silos, making it difficult for clinicians to interpret or compare across different device ecosystems.
Is the Sleep Lab Changing the Sleep It’s Trying to Measure?
Key takeaways: Patients using the Onera patch-based polysomnography system at home experienced significantly longer total sleep time, higher sleep efficiency, and more REM sleep compared to in-lab testing. Despite differences in sleep architecture, respiratory metrics, including the AHI, remained consistent between the two environments. 73% of study subjects indicated that their sleep in the lab was worse than at home.
Acquisition Marks New Phase for Advanced Brain Monitoring
On May 20, Advanced Brain Monitoring (ABM), a company known within the sleep medicine community for its research-heavy approach to EEG and home sleep testing, was acquired by Cadence Health Capital. The transition primes the Carlsbad, Calif-based firm to move toward a broader commercial strategy aimed at streamlining the clinical utilization of its product suite.
Communication Can Mean More to Hypersomnia Patients Than a Label
It can be tempting to decipher the cause behind an “invisible illness” such as narcolepsy. A measurable metric, like a cerebrospinal fluid orexin level, can reassure the patient and provide confidence that a mechanistic-based treatment will work.
OSA Selfie Screeners Prep for Their Close-Up
Recently, I tried two “selfie screeners” for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). It was a neat party trick—I snapped a single selfie, then an app told me whether my face has visual markers linked to OSA. Both flagged me for OSA markers and recommended I speak to a physician. Spoiler alert: I often take home sleep studies for fun (part of my job at Sleep Review), so I already know that my AHI has only ever been calculated as under 1 (no OSA).
Sleep Labs Prioritize EEG Electrode Leadwire Durability, While Exploring Wireless Technologies
When outfitting a sleep center for clinical success, the reliability of equipment like EEG electrodes is paramount. According to a recent Sleep Review survey, sleep lab managers and directors are clear on what matters most when selecting EEG electrode leadwires: durability. Survey respondents were advised to select up to three characteristics that are most important, and every single one cited durability as a top priority.
Will Orexin Drugs Raise the Bar for Clinical Diagnosis of Hypersomnolence?
The landscape of central disorders of hypersomnolence is approaching a pivot point. In February, Takeda announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted its New Drug Application for oveporexton (TAK-861) for the treatment of narcolepsy type 1 (NT1). This investigational oral orexin receptor 2 (OX2R)-selective agonist is designed to address the underlying orexin deficiency that characterizes NT1, marking a shift from symptom-based management to mechanism-based therapy.
The Rise of Differentiated Metrics in Home Sleep Testing
Many sleep specialists have upgraded their expectations for home sleep diagnostics, seeking additional metrics beyond the apnea-hyponea index (AHI) to better understand a patient’s sleep physiology, symptoms, and/or longitudinal risk.
Beyond the Residual Sleepiness Puzzle: Advocating for the Treated OSA Patient With Residual Sleepiness
Even when OSA is treated, some patients continue to struggle with excessive daytime sleepiness that affects work performance, relationships, cognition, and quality of life. In this practical webinar, sleep physician-presenters explore how to better identify, assess, and manage residual EDS in 2026—moving beyond the AHI to focus on real-world functional outcomes, patient-reported symptoms, and emerging treatment strategies.
CPAP Pillows Comparison Guide
While standard bed pillows may push against a CPAP mask, facilitate air leaks, or make side sleeping difficult—particularly for patients using full-face masks, CPAP-specific pillows are designed with cutouts, contours, adjustable loft, and/or specialized materials intended to reduce mask interference while supporting preferred sleep positions.
RBD’s New Biomarker Era
The diagnosis of REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) occupies an unsettling space in sleep medicine. While its immediate symptoms—vivid dream enactment that can lead to injury—can be managed, its long-term implications loom larger. A high percentage of patients with idiopathic RBD will eventually phenoconvert to a synucleinopathy, such as Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, or multiple system atrophy.
CPAP Users Avoid Automated Cleaners. But Some Also Avoid Cleaning, Period.
Patients are heeding the words of concern from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and CPAP companies about automated CPAP cleaning devices, such as those that use ozone and ultraviolet light, according to new survey data from Sleep Review. ”These machines are not necessary to clean your CPAP.
Revisiting RIP
Respiratory inductive plethysmography (RIP) belts have long been a cornerstone of in-lab polysomnography, providing a measure of respiratory effort by capturing the expansion and contraction of the chest and abdominal walls and guiding clinicians on whether a breathing event is obstructive or central. But, as sleep studies have shifted toward the home, the capture and utility of respiratory effort data is also changing.
The Sleep Coaches That Don’t Need to Sleep
For years, cognitive psychologist Dan Gartenberg, PhD, struggled with the sheer volume of inquiries that users of SleepSpace, his sleep wellness app, asked about sleep hygiene, CPAP equipment, and other basics. When he released “Dr. Snooze,” an AI chatbot, into that app just under a year ago, Gartenberg discovered that the bot could do a much better job answering user questions than he ever did. “I would take weeks to get back to people, so this is much better,” says Gartenberg, SleepSpace CEO.
What Makes a ‘Quiet’ CPAP Mask?
For many, the journey to diagnosis begins with a bed partner’s frustration. Driven by the disruptive sounds of snoring and the fear of witnessed apneas, bed partners have a reputation for elbowing the undiagnosed sleep apnea patient toward the sleep physician’s office. Yet, a sad irony can emerge once therapy begins: the noise from a CPAP mask can sometimes be as disruptive to the bed partner as the sleep apnea had been.
No One Owns Airway Development Until It’s Too Late
One evening during our bedtime routine, my son looked up from the bathroom sink and asked a question I wasn’t ready for. “Why do I have to breathe through my nose?” He’s six.
The Next Step to Mainstream Sleep Care
Sleep physician Jordan Stern, MD, had gotten used to receiving emails from non-sleep healthcare providers politely declining integrations with his virtual sleep platform. “They would say, ‘Oh yes, this is interesting’….But they were pretty honest that they weren’t ready to do anything,” says Stern, CEO of virtual sleep apnea practice BlueSleep. But lately: “It is finally happening,” he says.
They’ve Shortened the Time to Oral Appliance Therapy Optimization. Here’s How.
Though it was somewhat in jest, hearing sleep physician colleagues refer to oral appliance therapy as “the black hole of sleep apnea treatment” stung, concedes Charles Tozzer, DDS, co-owner of Sleep Apnea Centers of California. “I was pleased with our results, but it just took too long.
Sleep Labs to Autoscoring Software Developers: Prove It
A new Sleep Review survey of sleep lab supervisors reveals ambivalence surrounding sleep study autoscoring software.
Yes, GLP-1s Treat (Some) OSA, But They Also Expose Limits of Obesity-Focused Strategies
With Zepbound (tirzepatide), the first FDA-approved GLP-1 for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), showing strong reductions in apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) in patients with obesity,1 it’s easy to see why the public misperception that OSA is simply a weight problem is being reinforced. These drugs are a powerful tool. But their biggest impact may not be treating a subset of OSA patients—it may be forcing the field to look beyond weight. Obesity remains a key risk factor.
Will The CPAP Algorithm Boom Deliver Real Innovation?
For anyone who has been in sleep medicine long enough, the buzz surrounding several newly announced CPAP algorithms may be reminiscent of the promises of auto-CPAP (APAP) decades ago. Personalized therapy! Lower pressures! Fewer side effects! Reduced need for in-person visits! However, two decades later, the evidence that APAP is better than CPAP is, at best, mixed.1 Adherence also remains much lower than desired.
How to Lighten the Load for Sleep Apnea Patients
Sleep physicians are well versed in treating the disease burden of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a burden that can include excessive daytime sleepiness, disruptive snoring, impaired concentration, reduced quality of life, and elevated risks for cardiovascular disease, metabolic dysfunction, and motor vehicle accidents, among other manifestations. Less consistently addressed, however, is the parallel burden patients carry: the day-to-day labor of living with and managing OSA therapy.
What Holistic Sleep Care Looks Like
In 2023, Funke Afolabi-Brown, MD, FAASM, launched The Restful Sleep Place, a concierge sleep medicine practice designed to move beyond diagnosing sleep disorders and simply treating their symptoms. She also strives to see the whole person, the entire airway, the family system, and the root causes contributing to each patient’s poor sleep—root causes that have ranged from enlarged tonsils to nutritional deficiencies to trauma to family dynamics.
The Surprising Reasons Some Sleep Physicians Insist on HST for Monitoring Sleep Apnea Therapy Efficacy
Sleep physician Ernesto Eusebio, MD, faced a conundrum with one of his obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients. Despite undergoing an in-lab CPAP titration and then trialing autoPAP when the titrated fixed pressure fell short, she remained symptomatic—even though the autoPAP reported a residual AHI below 5. Perplexed, Eusebio, the founder and medical director of Sleep & Apnea Institute of Florida, sent her home with an EnsoData ensoHST.
Percy Developing Scalable Behavioral Sleep Solution
Percy, a finalist in the National Sleep Foundation’s 2025 SleepTech Award (Sleep Disorders and Conditions category), is building a contactless, non-video behavioral measurement system that scales sleep therapy.
Most-Read Sleep Topics of 2025
We analyzed Google Analytics data to identify the four topics that most engaged sleep medicine professionals in 2025. As in 2024, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) dominated interest. But the center of gravity shifted: diagnostics—not therapies—emerged as the year’s top draw, reflecting mounting interest around upcoming changes to home sleep testing (HST) reimbursement.
Sex, But Not Race, Influences OSA Diagnosis When Applying 4% Versus 3% Scoring Rule
Two different definitions are used to score hypopneas toward an obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) diagnosis in the United States: a 30% airflow decrease with a 3% oxygen desaturation or EEG arousal, or a 30% airflow decrease with a 4% oxygen desaturation. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and some commercial payers use only the 4% rule to confirm OSA, which may limit patient access to sleep apnea treatment.
A Roadmap for Integrated Sleep-Obesity Care
After seeing many people with sleep apnea who also had obesity in her medical practice at Mount Sinai in New York, Mira Tadros, DO, identified an opportunity to streamline patient care. Tadros envisioned a more comprehensive program where sleep medicine and weight management seamlessly converged, rather than sleep patients cycling through separate appointments for obesity management.
Two Years In, Medicare Coverage for Positional OSA Therapy Still Flies Under the Radar
A significant awareness gap regarding Medicare coverage may be limiting the adoption of prescription positional therapies for obstructive sleep apnea, according to a new survey from Sleep Review. The survey also reveals a desire among clinicians for more robust clinical evidence, particularly comparative trials against CPAP. More than half of respondents (52%) were unaware that Medicare began covering prescription electronic positional therapy devices in April 2023.
Beacon Biosignals Raises $86M to Scale AI Neurobiomarkers Through Sleep EEG
Key takeaways: The oversubscribed $86 million Series B brings Beacon’s total funding to more than $121 million. Beacon’s Waveband device captures real-world sleep and wake EEG at home, feeding a foundation model trained on millions of hours of data. The Beacon Platform generates AI-derived biomarkers intended to support diagnosis, patient selection, and CNS drug development.
The Race to Validate Novel EEG Sleep Metrics Before It’s Too Late
Magdy Younes, MD, FRCP(C), PhD, has spent decades identifying electroencephalogram (EEG)-derived metrics to better understand the nuances of human sleep. Now 87 years old, he finds himself in a race against time. Younes wants to see his life’s work validated in sleep medicine before he dies. Many sleep professionals are already familiar with Odds Ratio Product (ORP), Younes’ flagship metric for measuring sleep depth.
The Most Inaccurately Named Insomnia Therapy
Cognitive behavioral therapy is the most powerful technique that sleep specialists have for insomnia. Yet, the component that matches a person’s time in bed to their actual sleep time is marred by a threatening, inaccurate, and unfair name. Can we all agree that the phrase “sleep restriction therapy” needs to be eliminated from the medical lexicon?
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