I’m considering visiting a sleep clinic for my big sleep issues - but have no idea of cost. Would it take several nights and be horrifically expensive? (Assume that insurance won’t cover)
It’s one night. I believe the cost is about $2500 if not covered by insurance. I had mine about ten years ago, and United Healthcare covered all of the costs.
Some clinics will give you an O2 monitor to wear when you sleep. It is usually free. This will indicate if you are O2 deficient while sleeping.
Ask your doctor what the costs are up front. There are overnight studies and there are studies where you take the machine home with you.
“Sleep Study” can be any one of a number of tests.
Mine was last year at a clinic set up to process UC patients like cattle - very efficient money-sucking operation.
One night, hooked to about a dozen wires + band around bottom of rib cage (diaphragm muscle).
I was allowed to use my own meds and was awakened once to be fitted with the CPAP permanently attached to nightstand.
A quick check of my medical records indicates at least one bill for the night was $500.00.
My Medicare Part B + Plan F back-stop policy covered 100%, so I may not have kept all records.
Find out exactly WHAT test are indicated, and call the proposed clinic.
As a matter of practice, it seems that “Sleep Studies” are done by stand-alone businesses - your PCP is not involved - it is just like a prescription - the MD orders it but an entirely different company actually sells you the pills. (no, I do NOT want to hear about Pharmacies which are run by the Doctor’s Office (actually, the corporation running the MD’s office)).
I inquired about the costs of having one done years ago but couldn’t get a straight answer from anyone about whether it would be cheap or very expensive so I didn’t do it. If not covered by insurance, it was a couple of thousand dollars.
I was on her Blues plan but HQ for her (large) company was in Chicago, so policy was from BC/BS of Illinois & the sleep study lab was in physically located in the hospital near me. There was an argument to be made that I would be an overnight patient in the hospital, which would have made it about $60 cost to me; there was also an argument that it was an outpatient procedure, just one done overnight & therefore it wasn’t covered.
The sleep lab stated we know what we charge but can’t tell you what your insurance will cover. BC/BS-IL stated that it was handled by BC/BS in my state & therefore didn’t know how much would be covered. BC/BS-my state said they’re essentially forwarding onto BC/BS-IL for final payment & couldn’t tell me either. :smack:
End result is I never did get it done, but then the (supposed) snoring didn’t bother me while I was sleeping, either.
If it’s covered by your insurance, it can be fairly inexpensive, but that depends on your copays and deductibles and etc etc…
You can also ask them about doing a sleep study at home - they don’t want to, because it’s less money for them (sleep studies are very lucrative business) but it’s a lot cheaper, and the results for many issues are just as valid if you do the study right.
Mine was covered by insurance. But it was a lot of money. I remember in particular the doc who glanced over the EKG charts charged something like $400 for a few minutes of work.
If you’re paying for it yourself, you have to make triply sure that no other doc gets in on the thing without your prior permission. Some docs browse around looking for something and ask some intern “Mind if I take a look at that?” and then charge for a consultation.
As to what is involved in a sleep study, here’s a thread I wrote describing a Sleep Study I had in 2003.
I had another a couple of years ago at a different hospital in New York with a facility where they had rooms for the patients that were very similar to hotel rooms – with none of the computers or other monitoring equipment visible to the patients – and where the techs came into the room to hook the sensors up to you. Other than that, it was a very similar experience.
As to the cost, I believe that my insurance covered it, perhaps excluding the co-pay.
:: drops dead laughing ::
Hands off, ladies. He’s been married for almost 10 years now.
(But not to me. That would just be gross. And illegal.)