Access to at-home sleep tests slow to rise in Manitoba

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This article was published 11/04/2023 (880 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SLEEP disorder patients have accessed less than a quarter of Manitoba’s supply of at-home tests since the province contracted a private company to help clear the COVID-19 pandemic backlog for people waiting for diagnoses.

About 20 per cent of the Cerebra sleep tests have been completed, a Winnipeg Regional Health Authority spokesperson stated.

Cerebra, a Manitoba-based medical technology company, signed a contract with the province to provide 1,000 sleep studies, which means only up to 200 Manitobans have completed an at-home sleep test — even though there were more than 8,000 on wait lists for all types of sleep studies at the end of 2022.

The WRHA didn’t provide an updated count of the number of Manitobans still waiting for diagnosis and treatment of conditions such as sleep apnea, insomnia and restless leg syndrome.

The Free Press sought comments from Health Minister Audrey Gordon. Instead, a health department spokesperson sent a statement that hinted the province is trying to expand sleep testing.

“Sleep has a significant impact on a person’s overall health and wellness, which is why the diagnostic and surgical recovery task force has been working to address the backlog of sleep studies in the province,” the department spokesperson stated.

“The province currently has a contract with Cerebra for 1,000 sleep studies and is also looking at options to expand access. More details will be shared as they become available.”

The province didn’t answer questions about whether it plans to extend its contract with Cerebra or whether it plans to increase staffing and/or funding to the sleep lab at Misericordia Health Centre in Winnipeg.

The announcement of the private contract early this year led to calls for more public-sector support to the existing Misericordia sleep centre, with the union representing specialized polysomnographers saying 20-year-old equipment at the lab needs to be replaced.

Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals president Jason Linklater expressed concerns at-home sleep tests would only work for low-acuity patients, and up to 30 per cent of patients would need oversight and would end up back in the overburdened public sleep lab.

The province hasn’t revealed how much it paid Cerebra to provide the at-home sleep tests. The contract was awarded in October 2022 after the company responded to a provincial government request for supply arrangement to provide diagnostic services.

As part of that public tender process, the province also sought private suppliers for a wide range of medical tests that were seriously backlogged, including allergy, mammograms, ultrasounds, MRIs, bone density and CT scans, and heart and lung imaging tests.

As part of that process, the province also awarded contracts to two local medical clinics: Cardio 1 Medical (in Osborne Village) and St. Boniface Clinic. The province has said it spent $13.7 million in total on that request for supply arrangement.

katie.may@winnipegfreepress.com