We are happy to announce that the Santa Barbara Sleep Clinic has successfully moved into the Internal Medicine office of Dr. Jeffrey Polito (Medical Director and owner of the Santa Barbara Sleep Clinic) as of Monday, May 2nd. We are now located in the beautiful, new building at: 5333 Hollister Avenue, Suite 225, Santa Barbara, CA 93111. Our telephone # will remain the same (805) 681-7378 as well as the fax # (805) 681-7376. Please keep posted for new pictures of our facility very soon.
Once again, we are pleased to report that our patients are enjoying 84.2% compliance on their PAP devices for the first quarter 2015. As many of you may know, insurance companies and Medicare use 70% (equal to or greater than 4 hours) as their benchmark for successful compliance. We are happy to report that we have exceeded our clinic goal of 80%. Congratulations to our compliant CPAP patients!
As of 12/4/14, we have been experiencing problems with incoming calls for the last 3 days at the Santa Barbara Sleep Clinic. We are working closely with Verizon to get this solved as soon as possible. If you need to reach us, please contact Dr. Polito’s Internal Medicine office at (805) 681-1490. They will relay the message to us. We are able to make outgoing phone calls but incoming calls have been blocked. We appreciate your patience.
In an effort to maintain quality patient care, identify trends and gain new insight, the Santa Barbara Sleep Clinic collects compliance data from patients who have been set up on Positive Airway Pressure (PAP) at the Santa Barbara Sleep Clinic. With a goal of 80%, we are happy to report that we have exceeded that goal to 83% in the 3rd quarter, 2014, and continue to strive for increased compliance among our patients.
If you are new to PAP, most insurance carriers are following Medicare’s guidelines for usage. If your machine is being covered on a rental basis (that is usually determined by the insurance company), you will be required to prove that you use the device for at least 4 hours / 70% of time. New machines that are dispensed come with an SD card that can be inserted or read by your DME provider (or Sleep Clinic) to prove that you have used the device for the time required. Some machines are equipped with a wireless modem to transmit the data directly the DME company. The new ResMed Air Sense unit has an internal modem eliminating the need for an external, plug in modem.
If you have been on PAP for many years and wish to re-order supplies, Anthem Blue Cross is now requiring that the DME company or Sleep Clinic prove that you have used the device for 4 hours / 70% of the time for the previous 3 months prior to ordering the supplies. This can also be accomplished by downloading data from the SD card or reading the data via modem.
We are excited about 2 new CPAP masks that have recently been released. The first one is the Nuance Pro by Philips/Respironics. A nice alternative to the popular Swift FX from ResMed, the Nuance Pro’s nasal pillows are made of gel and fit nicely in and around the nares for an excellent seal. The entire mask is lightweight and has a non-slip strap on the headgear so as to prevent the back strap from sliding up on the back of the head. The other mask is the new Nano by ResMed. Similar to Respironic’s Wisp nasal mask, the ResMed is small, light with an open face design, and minimal headgear. 
Both masks are available now at the Santa Barbara Sleep Clinic.
The Santa Barbara Sleep Clinic, under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey Polito, is the only accredited Sleep Disorder Center in Santa Barbara. We are fully accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Our center also works closely with Drs. Andrew Binder and Charles Curatalo, both board certified sleep specialists in Santa Barbara. Our technicians are licensed by the CA Medical Board and duly registered by the BRPT and AASM.
