Enabling Sleep Apnea Patient-Centered Care Via an Internet Intervention

Poor treatment adherence with CPAP therapy is well-documented. Set against a backdrop of telemedicine applications that have grown as fast in unsubstantiated claims and assumptions of patient satisfaction, diagnostic accuracy, clinical efficacy, and cost-effectiveness as they have in technological sophistication and capabilities, the evaluative aspect of this proposal is designed as as a randomized, controlled clinical trial-Usual Care patients (control) versus i-PAP patients (intervention). An important empirical-methodological advantage of the project is the objective measurement of CPAP adherence, which is measured by internal microprocessor as the "amount of time CPAP is used at the prescribed pressure." This objective measurement allows feedback of treatment adherence and efficacy to both patient and provider, and the i-PAP intervention was designed around this central feature.