Posted: | January 9, 2013 02:42 PM |
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From: | Senator Timothy J. Solobay |
To: | All Senate members |
Subject: | Designation of Sleep Centers |
In the near future, I will be reintroducing legislation which would amend the Health Care Facilities Act to standardize the licensing and regulation of sleep centers (also known as sleep laboratories) by adding a definition for “sleep center” and including them among the health care facilities that are overseen by the Department of Health. More specifically, this measure would require any sleep disorder center, sleep laboratory, or other facility which provides testing and treatment for sleep disorders or which otherwise focuses on sleep-related breathing disorders to be regulated by the Department of Health. There is a growing gap in oversight of independent sleep centers and those that are associated or operated by hospitals. Independent sleep centers are unregulated and the Department of Health has no oversight authority regarding their operations, staffing levels, staff competency, or patient safety. This legislation was SB1009 of the 2011-12 session. Previous cosponsors include: Fontana, Brewster, Washington, Ferlo and Browne. |
Introduced as SB451