{"id":194108,"date":"2024-06-05T18:30:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=194108"},"modified":"2024-06-05T19:15:17","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T19:15:17","slug":"telehealth-increases-accessibility-to-va-sleep-medicine-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=194108","title":{"rendered":"Telehealth increases accessibility to VA sleep medicine programs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sleep issues impact more than how you function during the day. Poor sleep also affects your mental and physical health.<\/p>\n

VA\u2019s TeleSleep program works to help Veterans learn about healthy rest, treat sleep disorders and gain restful, quality sleep.<\/p>\n

Dr. Kathleen Sarmiento has dedicated her career to improving sleep care for Veterans. She is the executive director of the VA National Sleep Medicine Program and directs the Office of Rural Health\u2019s TeleSleep, which works to enhance access to sleep care for Veterans in rural areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re heavily engaged with using telehealth to reach Veterans. The specialty lends itself very nicely to virtual pathways for clinical management, performing consults and follow-ups through video, and diagnosing patients with a multitude of sleep disorders,\u201d Sarmiento said.<\/p>\n

TeleSleep and accessibility to treatment<\/h2>\n

More than 1.7 million Veterans (33%) treated by VA had sleep apnea in 2023. Sleep apnea is the most prevalent sleep disorder among Veterans who also have insomnia, the second most common sleep disorder.<\/p>\n

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Dr. Kathleen Sarmiento<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Telehealth has given Veterans access to care for sleep disorders. VA\u2019s TeleSleep program has promoted home sleep apnea testing for Veterans. Tests are available from community clinics and VA medical centers or mailed to patients so they can be treated remotely.<\/p>\n

Other ways VA treats sleep apnea include dental implements that lower the jaw and pull it forward for better breathing, devices that keep patients from sleeping on their backs, neuromuscular electrical stimulators that tone muscles in the upper airway, and surgical therapies.<\/p>\n

Sleep clinicians also have an increasing role in medical weight management to treat sleep apnea as well as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you sleep in a position other than on your back and you can manage to lose 10 to 15 pounds, health professionals can coach their patients into success by losing some weight and seeing the severity of apnea get better or go away,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

For Veterans with insomnia, VA offers cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-i) as a treatment option. A self-paced course, Path to Better Sleep<\/a> can help treat insomnia with digital CBT-i. Veterans may also use the CBT-i Coach mobile app<\/a> to learn how to quiet their minds and set up productive sleep routines.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen significant innovation in cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic insomnia at VA. We\u2019ve worked hard to provide online platforms for self-management to make these treatments more accessible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Connecting Veterans with sleep telehealth<\/h2>\n

When TeleSleep initiative began in 2017, it was the first venture into a centrally supported system of sleep telehealth networks focused on reaching rural Veterans. Since then, clinical resource hubs give access to Veterans who don\u2019t live near a VA medical center or a sleep specialist. Veterans can receive video telehealth visits at home or through Community Based Outpatient Clinics.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re set up to deliver care wherever the Veteran is and wherever the providers might be,\u201d Sarmiento said.<\/p>\n

Struggling with sleep issues? Talk to your VA care team about scheduling a TeleSleep consult or check out these virtual sleep resources<\/a> that may help. To learn more about telehealth, visit the VA Telehealth Services page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sleep issues impact more than how you function during the day. Poor sleep also affects your mental and physical health. VA\u2019s TeleSleep program works to help Veterans learn about healthy rest, treat sleep disorders and gain restful, quality sleep. Dr. Kathleen Sarmiento has dedicated her career to improving sleep care for Veterans. She is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":194110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,196],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-sleep"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=194108"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194111,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194108\/revisions\/194111"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/194110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=194108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=194108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=194108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}