Eric J. Olson, MD, accomplished his time period as president of the American Academy of Sleep Drugs (AASM) board of administrators on Monday, June 9, 2025, throughout the AASM annual membership assembly, which passed off in Seattle as a part of the SLEEP 2025 annual assembly of the Related Skilled Sleep Societies (APSS).
That is an excerpt of the remarks that he introduced throughout the membership assembly.
Remarks by Dr. Eric J. Olson
Now, it’s actually an honor to current the report of the Academy president. Serving as your president this previous yr has been a privilege, and I’m happy with what we have now completed collectively. We now have labored with function and focus, advancing our shared mission at a pivotal time for sleep drugs.
I’d like to focus on a number of key initiatives which are serving to to form a powerful future for our discipline.
We carried out the 2024 AASM Sleep Drugs Compensation Survey. It’s the largest nationwide survey of its form and consists of benchmarking knowledge for physicians, superior apply suppliers, and sleep technologists throughout quite a lot of apply settings. These insights can help contract negotiations, workforce planning, and operational decision-making. The manager abstract is accessible now as a free member profit, and the complete report might be bought by way of our on-line store.
Advocacy for the sleep discipline
Advocacy remained central to our work this yr. We targeted on bettering reimbursement, increasing entry to care, and elevating consciousness that sleep is important to well being. In March, Academy members participated in Hill Day, assembly with 28 congressional places of work. We advocated for everlasting commonplace time, prior authorization reform, and continued telehealth protection. We additionally hosted a congressional briefing on sleep and girls’s well being, highlighting disparities and alternatives for motion.
Within the context of current modifications in federal funding, staffing, and administrative necessities associated to biomedical analysis and well being care, the Academy issued a press release advocating for sturdy federal investments in sleep and circadian analysis and scientific sleep drugs. We urged the White Home, Congress, and federal company leaders to prioritize sleep by way of packages administered by companies together with NIH, CMS, and the VA.
Our membership consists of NIH-funded researchers and VA workers clinicians, a lot of whom have skilled skilled disruptions and uncertainties this yr. All our doctor members are additionally affected by the reimbursement charges applied by CMS by way of the Medicare doctor payment schedule. We stay dedicated to advocating for federal insurance policies that help our members and promote the well being and well-being of sufferers who’ve sleep problems.
Together with different organizations within the sleep neighborhood, we additionally reached out to the members of the Make America Wholesome Once more Fee. We urged them to acknowledge the significance of wholesome sleep within the fee’s report back to the president, which was launched in late Could. I commend the fee for responding to those efforts by recognizing that our youngsters and teenagers are experiencing “a nationwide sleep disaster,” and I’m happy that the report additionally highlights the significance of morning daylight and circadian timing for well being and well-being.
We partnered with a number of different sleep organizations to ship a unified message on the worth of wholesome sleep. I’m grateful for our collaborative relationship with the Sleep Analysis Society, Nationwide Sleep Basis, Society of Behavioral Sleep Drugs, and Society for Analysis on Organic Rhythms. Whereas we recognize the inclusion of sleep, we’re additionally getting ready a response to the fee to deal with regarding language that devalues adenotonsillectomy for pediatric sleep apnea. Because the fee members develop a method that will probably be introduced to the president in August, we are going to proceed to achieve out to teach them about coverage options to deal with related points reminiscent of faculty begin occasions and everlasting commonplace time.
Pointers and analysis
We printed a brand new scientific apply guideline that gives evidence-based suggestions for the therapy of stressed legs syndrome and periodic limb motion dysfunction. This spring, two extra tips have been posted for public remark. They deal with the administration of sleep-disordered inhaling inpatients and the therapy of central sleep apnea. These paperwork are being finalized and can present essential steerage for clinicians, reflecting our dedication to high-quality, patient-centered care.
In January, Safwan Badr succeeded Nancy Collop as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Scientific Sleep Drugs. I’m grateful for Nancy’s decade of service on this function, and I recognize the foundational work of her predecessor, Stuart Quan. Now, I’m excited to see Safwan proceed to raise the journal as a premier publication for human sleep and circadian science. To additional the journal’s influence, we have now entered right into a publishing providers settlement with Springer Nature, which can start publishing JCSM in January. As a world chief in analysis publishing, Springer will assist us develop the journal’s influence, whereas Safwan and his editorial board will proceed to pick one of the best science for publication.
As a member of the Academy, you’ll proceed to obtain full entry to JCSM as a good thing about your membership. You may also contribute to JCSM by volunteering as a manuscript reviewer. I do know Safwan would like to ship you some papers to evaluation!
New steerage for members
The FDA’s current approval of tirzepatide for adults with weight problems and reasonable to extreme OSA marks a big milestone. It’s the first pharmacologic therapy authorized for OSA, and it has the potential to shift scientific care. In response, the Academy held instructional webinars and collaborated with the Weight problems Drugs Affiliation, and we not too long ago fashioned a activity pressure led by Tim Morgenthaler. This group will develop assets to assist our members combine weight problems administration of their sleep apply. As we navigate this altering panorama, we are going to help our members with sensible steerage and finest practices.
We fashioned a brand new Observe Administration Presidential Committee, led by Sam Fleishman. Specializing in our strategic objective of “Observe Success,” this group is bettering our apply administration assets for members. Their work consists of creating the define for a ebook on apply administration and offering suggestions to enhance our Observe Administration Course and different schooling choices.
We fashioned a Ladies’s Sleep Well being Process Pressure led by Suzie Bertisch, and they’re figuring out the gaps and alternatives in sleep care for ladies throughout the lifespan. Their work will inform future analysis priorities, scientific suggestions, and advocacy efforts. We all know that girls face distinctive challenges in receiving well timed and correct diagnoses for sleep problems, and we’re dedicated to addressing these disparities.
Strategic initiatives
Increasing the sleep doctor pipeline remained a precedence for us. We continued our Advancing Innovation in Residency Training program, which is piloting blended and part-time fellowship coaching fashions. Our Sleep Drugs Fellowship Director’s Council continued to equip program administrators and fellows, and we continued to help the Sleep Drugs Match carried out by the Nationwide Resident Matching Program Specialties Matching Service. Final December, a report variety of 207 physicians efficiently matched with a sleep drugs fellowship coaching program. Many of those younger physicians have been right here in Seattle this weekend to take part in our fellowship coaching bootcamp.
We continued an initiative led by Kannan Ramar to re-envision grownup OSA characterization, which has at all times relied closely on the apnea-hypopnea index. Whereas helpful, AHI alone doesn’t seize the complete complexity of the dysfunction or the vary of scientific shows we see in apply. This initiative goals to develop a extra complete framework for outlining and describing OSA, with implications for prognosis, therapy, and analysis. It’s a daring step ahead that may form the way forward for our specialty.
Working with an out of doors guide and led by an knowledgeable panel of members, we finalized and validated the Affected person-reported Longitudinal Evaluation Instrument for OSA – which we name PLATO. The manuscript has been submitted for publication in JCSM, and the questionnaire will probably be accessible – in English and Spanish – by way of a web-based platform. I’m happy to report that clinicians and researchers will have the ability to obtain and use the questionnaire free of charge. It has taken years to develop this invaluable software, and I’m grateful for the arduous work of Doug Kirsch, Fariha Abbasi-Feinberg, Charles Davies, Charlene Gamaldo, and Carol Rosen.
Considered one of our most necessary initiatives was the event of a code change software to replace the codes for unattended sleep research, which we submitted to the American Medical Affiliation CPT Editorial Panel. The present code household now not captures all present sleep testing applied sciences which are getting used outdoors of the sleep heart to diagnose sleep problems. These newer sleep testing gadgets have various ranges of complexity and channels, they usually now measure sleep parameters utilizing each direct and derived measures of sleep. Along with capturing newer applied sciences, the up to date code household is now not restricted to testing completely for sleep apnea; it now captures testing for a number of sleep problems. Our proposed code set addresses this complexity and displays our dedication to make sure truthful reimbursement for sleep testing providers.
Our proposed codes have been authorized by the CPT Editorial Panel, after which a random pattern of members from a number of societies participated in a survey by the AMA Relative Worth Scale Replace Committee. The RUC reviewed these survey ends in April and authorized the suggestions for apply expense {and professional} providers. The RUC despatched these suggestions to CMS for potential implementation in January 2027.
I’m so grateful for the diligent work of our CPT advisors Larry Epstein and Vik Jain, our RUC advisors Chuck Bae and Jeremy Weingarten, board liaison Fariha Abbasi-Feinberg, and well being coverage workers Diedra Grey and Tracy Bunge. We additionally labored with a number of organizations on this initiative, together with CHEST, the American Thoracic Society, and the American Academy of Neurology. This has actually been a crew effort.
APSS partnership
Coming right here to the SLEEP assembly is at all times one of many highlights of my yr. Practically 40 years in the past, the Academy and the Sleep Analysis Society fashioned the Related Skilled Sleep Societies. Annually, we have now labored collectively to prepare the premier sleep and circadian convention on the planet. Our two organizations have distinct variations, and our members have distinctive wants. So, it may be difficult to plan a gathering that satisfies the leaders and members of each organizations.
We invested a number of time this yr in negotiations with the SRS relating to the way forward for the APSS working settlement. I’m happy to report that we ultimately discovered widespread floor and agreed to proceed this necessary partnership. I’m particularly grateful for SRS President Dan Buysse and SRS Secretary/Treasurer Stephanie Crowley, who joined me and Anita in prolonged discussions that superior our negotiations. I’ve nice respect for our colleagues on the SRS, and I’m excited that the Academy and the SRS will proceed to host this improbable annual assembly collectively.
Closing remarks
All through all of this work, our members have remained the center of the Academy. Your experience, ardour, service, and help have made these achievements potential. We even have gifted and devoted workers in our nationwide workplace, and we’re led by a board of administrators that at all times places the wants of our members first. It’s a privilege and an honor to work alongside them. I’m additionally grateful for the love and help of my spouse, Lisa; daughter, Sarah; and son, Carl. I couldn’t have carried out this with out them.
Serving as your president has been one of many biggest honors of my profession. I’m happy with what we have now completed collectively, and I’m assured that the Academy’s future is shiny. I look ahead to supporting Anita Shelgikar as she leads us within the yr forward. Thanks for the chance to serve.
