Identify gaps and concerns within the sleep apnea community and provide actionable grassroots support to bridge gaps in care.

2023 Community Sleep Health and Public Awareness Grant

MONICA MALLAMPALLI, PHD
ALLIANCE OF SLEEP APNEA PARTNERS

Key Project Outcome

The three-year recall by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the positive airway pressure (PAP) machines manufactured by Philips Respironics has significantly affected the patient and the physician communities. Millions of patients are still waiting for replacement machines, despite the efforts by Philips Respironics to meet patient needs. In this grant, we proposed to understand the impact of the FDA recall on patients and their health care providers, as lack of access to PAP machines has put a great burden on them. As a patient-oriented and patient-focused advocacy organization, we at the Alliance of Sleep Apnea Partners were driven to represent the needs of the sleep apnea patient community. We examined gaps in patient care and determined actions needed to alleviate patient burden, especially in the event of a future recall. We published a white paper detailing key highlights of our conversations with different stakeholders from the sleep apnea community and proposed actionable recommendations at the community level and within the government. These conversations were recorded and shared with the public on ASAP’s YouTube channel. To help the patient community, we launched an advocacy hub on our website with information on the recall, a quick-read fast facts resource about the recall and an actionable interactive advocacy toolkit to help patients find their voices as advocates and further facilitate their engagement with ASAP and our stakeholders.