Sleep study [Polysomnography] Scoring
Want to save costs on a per study basis?
Want to convert fixed costs to variable cost thus lowering overhead?
Want better reliability on quality and turnaround of your scored studies?
Want registered technicians scoring your studies with quality and consistency?
Scoring sleep studies can be done in a couple of ways:
Old school:
- Scoring in-house with dedicated technician getting paid per hour or salary, with possible benefits
- Dependent on in-house personal to keep up with volume
- Dependent of paying for hourly or per study rate with limited reliability in case personal is sick or on leave
- Dependent on technician trying to score a study while performing the study [ on the fly] and hoping no issues are missed and quality control is met
- Making sure technicians (old and new) are updated and trained in the latest scoring rules regularly
New School:
- Outsource on a per scored study basis
- Entire team on call for reliability and timely turn around
- Flat rate per study, thus only pay when you have studies to score, thus turning fixed overhead to variable
- No need to pay for benefits or worry about time off coverage
Opus Teams for Scoring
There are many advantages to outsourcing your Polysomnography study scoring as discussed above… but there are also so many options on the internet of companies offering scoring services. What companies do you use? Opus’ recommendation is based on research, interviews and then deciding what would works best for your facility.
Opus has dealt with many of the scoring companies and we have found a few things that may come in handy. First most online sleep scoring companies are usually just a company of 1 person who is scoring on the side of their regular sleep tech job or a company of 2 and rarely 3. The issue of coverage and turnaround and long term reliability come into play. You can occasionally find a fly by night “company” charging $25/ study (usually not reliable, with one person at most be accredited [if that] or registered with a team of in house trained non registered scorers) to $70-80/ study (outsourced to scorers around north America via an online portal).
When Opus opens up sleep facilities or consults sleep centers we are exposed to many different vendors… and thus have seen the best and worst of them.
Over time we at Opus have put together and consulted with scoring companies that have been tested and utilized by Opus in there managed facilities for years. These teams only have RPSGTs on staff that score all studies, they are trained regularly with up to date CE. They have at least two to four techs available at any one time to score studies as teams appointed for each location. All technicians are in house, in other words, they come to the office to score studies for clients, they don’t remote access from their home or another site or wherever. We can then assure HIPPA compliance and high sleep internet access at all times. All teams will work also directly with the interpreting physician to make sure all items are scored and processed to their standard, [we provide a scoring questionnaire to the lab to customize the scoring if they want to alter or modify from AASM]. This is also why most of these companies will offer a free trial.
Rates
A sampling of our rates are listed below and are variable depending on the monthly volume of your sleep facility or group.
- Between 1 and 100 studies per month $ 34/ study (depending on sleep equipment)
- Between 101 and 300 studies per month $32.50 / study
- Greater than 301 studies per month $30 / study
- Home sleep studies $24/study
Studies are turned around in less than 48 hours and there are no long term contracts or agreements. If templated reports are to be filled out there will be additional small charge per study.
Complimentary setup and trial of 5 free scored studies. This allows you to get used to our teams and our team to get used to your studies and that also allows both parties to get used to each other’s work.
Contact us today to discuss your current situation with scoring and how we may be able to help.