Choosing a sleep center

Start with your doctor

NHLBI says your doctor decides whether you test at a sleep center or at home with a portable device. Most choices follow from that decision, so the first call is often to the doctor who referred you. Ask whether they work with a particular center and whether the center needs a referral form.

Verify the licence

New York licenses its health professionals, and the Office of the Professions at the State Education Department maintains a verification search. Look up the physician, dentist or other professional by name before the visit. It is a quick check that works the same for a hospital clinic and a small private practice.

Ask what kind of study it is

A center may offer overnight in-lab studies, home tests or both. In a lab, technologists monitor the recording and staff can help if you wake. At home, you attach the sensors yourself and return the device the next morning. The home and lab guide compares them in detail. Ask which one is ordered and what the night involves.

Insurance and Medicaid questions to confirm

Coverage varies by plan, and the plan itself is the final authority. Before booking, confirm these with both the center and your insurer or Medicaid plan:

• Is the center in network for my plan?
• Does the study need a prior authorization, and who requests it?
• Is the type of study ordered, lab or home, the type my plan covers?
• What will I owe, if anything, for the study and for the visit to review the results?

Practical details to settle

• Arrival and departure. What time should you arrive for an overnight study, and when will you leave in the morning?
• Preparation. No alcohol or caffeine in the afternoon and evening, no naps, no lotions, gels, makeup or nail polish, and a question about your usual sleep medicines.
• Access. Whether the entrance and the testing rooms are accessible to you, and whether the building has an elevator if the center is above the ground floor.
• Getting there. How to reach the address by subway, bus or car, and how you will travel home in the morning.

Results

MedlinePlus says your provider reviews all the results and, if appropriate, creates a treatment plan, and that questions about results go to the provider. Ask who that will be, how long the report usually takes and whether there is a follow-up visit to go over it. The results guide defines the terms in a report.

Where to look

Start with sleep centers in the Bronx, then look at Queens and Manhattan. The neighborhood pages cover the East Bronx areas around them: Throgs Neck, Pelham Bay, Co-op City, Morris Park, Westchester Square, Country Club.