Member Since July 2019
Website: aasm.org
Patient resources: https://sleepeducation.org/
AASM Vision
Achieving optimal health through better sleep
AASM Mission
The AASM improves sleep health and promotes high quality, patient-centered care through advocacy, education, strategic research, and practice standards.
Diversity and Inclusion
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) recognizes that the diversity of its community – including leadership, staff, members and volunteers – is a necessary component of the AASM’s mission to improve sleep health and promote high quality, patient-centered care for all people. We are devoted to maintaining an inclusive space by respecting, valuing and celebrating our unique attributes, backgrounds, and perspectives. To build a strong community, AASM strives to bring a wide-range of individuals together to ensure that all opinions, experiences, and viewpoints are considered. We welcome diversity as we work together to achieve optimal health through better sleep.
History
Established in 1975 as the Association of Sleep Disorders Centers, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) is the only professional society dedicated exclusively to the medical subspecialty of sleep medicine.
As the leading voice in the sleep field, the AASM sets standards and promotes excellence in sleep medicine health care, education, and research. The AASM has a combined membership of 10,000 accredited member sleep centers and individual members, including physicians, scientists, and other health care professionals.
Activities and Accomplishments
In the last 12 months the American Academy of Sleep Medicine has continued and implemented numerous initiatives to advance the field of sleep medicine. The AASM continues to promote high quality, patient-centered care by accrediting sleep facilities, independent sleep practices, and durable medical equipment (DME) suppliers. The number of AASM-accredited sleep facilities across the U.S, Canada, and U.S. territories has grown to more than 2,700. To provide clinical recommendations for the evaluation, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of patients with sleep disorders, the AASM published several new practice standards, including clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of adult obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with positive airway pressure (PAP) and the use of actigraphy for the evaluation of sleep disorders and circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders. The AASM restructured its individual membership categories and introduced several assemblies to maximize the engagement of students, trainees, and non-physicians who are members of the sleep team, including advanced practice providers, dentists, psychologists, and sleep technologists. The AASM’s new Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Intersociety Collaborations Presidential Committee, and International Members Task Force are helping the AASM promote unity in the sleep field.
Last fall, the AASM hosted 35 representatives from 14 medical societies, nurse practitioner associations and patient advocacy groups for a one-day Sleep-Disordered Breathing Collaboration Summit. The purpose of this summit was to bring together a multi-disciplinary group of stakeholders to encourage innovation and promote improved access to care for the millions of adults and children who have undiagnosed OSA. In April, an Academy delegation visited Capitol Hill for meetings at the offices of more than 35 legislators to advocate for policies to promote sleep health. Joining members of the AASM Board for the collaborative Hill visit were representatives from four other partner organizations: the AASM Political Action Committee (PAC), the American Alliance for Healthy Sleep, the Sleep Research Society, and Start School Later.
To expand the training pipeline for sleep physicians, the AASM submitted two proposals for the Advancing Innovation in Residency Education pilot program initiated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The AASM proposed two pilot studies that would augment our current, full-time, one-year programs with: a 2-year, part-time option (which would include the use of online learning and telemedicine), and a blended fellowship (which would combine sleep medicine training with other programs that have overlapping knowledge and skills). Both proposals were approved by ACGME, and the pilots will begin in July. The AASM also has begun the development of a Patient-Reported Outcome Tool for OSA that will help sleep providers demonstrate the value of effective treatment, and the AASM has initiated the development of the first Qualified Clinical Data Registry dedicated solely to sleep medicine. This registry will support the sleep field by promoting quality measure implementation, measure testing and validation, prospective data collection for research analysis, and quality improvement activities.
The AASM developed new educational resources for sleep specialists, such as the Sleep ISR pediatric track and the recently published Case Book of Sleep Medicine, Third Edition. The AASM organized and hosted several educational events, including the annual Sleep Medicine Trends course. The new Sleep Medicine Disruptors course, which explored the innovations poised to change the landscape of sleep health care, was the first AASM course to be livestreamed. Currently, the AASM is publishing the 15th volume of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, and the AASM is in the final year of a five-year, $10 million commitment in support of the awards program of the AASM Foundation. In partnership with the Sleep Research Society, the AASM continues to co-organize the SLEEP annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS). SLEEP 2019, held in June in San Antonio, Texas, gathered nearly 5,000 sleep medicine professionals, sleep and circadian scientists, patient advocates, and industry representatives from the U.S. and around the world.