A group of physicians has developed new quality measures for the treatment and detection of childhood obstructive sleep apnea.
Several different practice guidelines already exist for diagnosing and treating childhood OSA. The newly proposed measures, however, differ from existing guidelines in that they measure and track the quality of services provided by clinicians. According to Pediatric OSA Workgroup lead author Sanjeev V. Kothare, MD, Director of the Pediatric Sleep Program at NYU Langone Medical Center, the new metrics will help to ensure that guidelines for assessing and treating childhood OSA are actually followed.
“Guidelines recommend a course of action, but quality metrics document what is actually done,” says Dr. Kothare.
