Intermountain Press Release

Salt Lake City—LDS Hospital's Intermountain Sleep Center has been designated as a national center of excellence by the American College of Chest Physicians, making it one of only 20 hospital-sleep disorder centers out of more than 2,500 in the nation to earn this prestigious designation.

"This is wonderful validation of our program and great recognition for our staff who work so hard to care for patients who experience sleep disorders," says Robert Farney, M.D., medical director of the center.

Recognition as a national sleep medicine center of excellence is based on four criteria: excellence in clinical care, accreditation by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, sponsorship of a teaching program that's accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and active involvement in researching sleep disorders.

LDS Hospital's Intermountain Sleep Center is based at LDS Hospital but also has clinics at St. Joseph Villa and sponsors sleep centers at Cottonwood Hospital, Alta View Hospital, Logan Regional Medical Center, and Sevier Valley Hospital.

The center provides over 5,000 full sleep studies a year and performs another 2,100 screening studies. A full sleep study consists of a diagnostic polysomnogram to determine what causes a patient's sleep problems or a therapeutic polysomnogram and other tools to treat them. The center treats a full range of sleep disorders, including sleep apnea, insomnia, sleep-related behavioral disturbances, seizures, and circadian rhythm disorders.

"The lab's work is increasingly important as sleep disturbances become more common throughout the community," says Dr. Farney.

The National Center on Sleep Disorders Research estimates that about 70 million Americans suffer from sleep problems, which is about 25 percent of the total population, and nearly 60 percent have a chronic disorder. Sleep problems add an estimated $15.9 billion to the nation's healthcare bill every year."

Earlier this year, LDS Hospital's Intermountain Sleep Disorders Center was the first training program in the nation to be accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine for its sleep technologist education program. Since that time, technologists from five Intermountain Healthcare hospitals have participated in the program.

The program is a two-step training course that includes 80 hours of formal education and an 18-month on-the-job training and e-learning program. Graduates of the program are ready for professional positions as sleep technologists and ready to be certified by the Board of Registered Polysomnographic Technologists.