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What's a Polysomnographic Technologists Bill?
I'm hearing that there's a Polysomnographic Technologists Bill being sponsored in New York. Told that if it doesn't pass many techs will lose their jobs. Why?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on
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www.polysomnography.info
THE THREAT
As you may be aware, the State Education Department (see attached memorandum) has reaffirmed its view that certain tasks undertaken in sleep centers may be within the practice of respiratory therapy and, as a result, the Department may seek to require that respiratory therapists exclusively perform those tasks. While we disagree with the State Education Department's interpretation (and have taken issue with the Department on this matter for the past decade or so), we have agreed with the Department that an acceptable solution to the issue would be to establish a new licensed profession of polysomnographic technology, which would be more directly related to the treatment of sleep disorders and would obviate the need to utilize respiratory therapists for these functions
UPDATE (click for PDF):
This letter, signed by the chairs of the Higher Education Committees from both the Assembly (Glick) and the Senate (Lavalle), was sent on our behalf to the State Education Department requesting non-action on their December 2007 memo. Communication towards that same end was made by the Speaker of the Assembly (Canestrari) as well as the sponsors of the bill (Fuschillo and Bing.)
We thank them all for their interest and involvement in this most pressing matter.
THE THREAT
As you may be aware, the State Education Department (see attached memorandum) has reaffirmed its view that certain tasks undertaken in sleep centers may be within the practice of respiratory therapy and, as a result, the Department may seek to require that respiratory therapists exclusively perform those tasks. While we disagree with the State Education Department's interpretation (and have taken issue with the Department on this matter for the past decade or so), we have agreed with the Department that an acceptable solution to the issue would be to establish a new licensed profession of polysomnographic technology, which would be more directly related to the treatment of sleep disorders and would obviate the need to utilize respiratory therapists for these functions.
URGENT: Support New York Sleep Licensing Legislation -- SB 8037/A 10961
Representatives from the NYS Society of Sleep Medicine and our lobbyists had several visits with State legislators on June 5th in an effort to educate them about polysomnography, the work of PSGTechs, and pending legislation to establish PSGTechs as a separate licensed profession. (Letter of support we shared with the legislators.) The meetings went well, but we realize that much work remains before the Legislature adjourns by the end of June. Our immediate priority is to convince the Chairpersons of the Senate and Assembly Higher Education Committees to pass the bill out of their respective committees. These "profession"-related bills are very difficult to pass out of committee, so we need a concerted and sustained effort on your part to show support for the bill among polysomnographic practitioners.
Accordingly, we need you to e-mail, or write letters to Senator Ken LaValle urging him to "report S.8037-A out of the Senate Higher Education Committee", as well as to Assemblywoman Deborah Glick "to report A.10961-A out of the Assembly Higher Education Committee", AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
See http://newyorksleep.org/PSGT_letter_to_legislators.DOC for a draft letter that can and should be personalized for this purpose.
The relevant email addresses are: lavalle@senate.state.ny.us and glickd@assembly.state.ny.us
Emails are tallied by the offices and are the preferred means for this communication.
The physical addresses for letters are:
Senator Kenneth LaValle
Room 806,
Legislative Off Blg
Albany, NY 12247
Or the district office @
325 Middle Country Road, Suite 4
Selden, NY 11784
http://senatorlavalle.com/1/default.aspx
Assemblyperson Deborah J. Glick
Room 717
Legislative Off Blg
Albany, NY 12248
Or the district office @
853 Broadway
Suite 2120
New York, NY 10003
http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=066
As you know, we are under a pending threat (at the end of August 2008) by the State Education Department to close down sleep centers through its enforcement against individual sleep techs who provide sleep testing without a license and doctors and other licensed healthcare professionals who aid PSGtechs in the performance of such services. Your emails/letters to the Senator and Assemblywoman will help communicate this sense of urgency. Please be respectful in your communications as we ultimately need these legislators' cooperation. Please forward this to colleagues, compatriots and patient advocates sympathetic to our cause.
Thank you.
Daniel Rifkin, MD
President
President@newyorksleep.org
New York State Society of Sleep Medicine
Claude Albertario, RPSGT
Secretary
info@nysssm.org
New York State Society of Sleep Medicine
www.NEWYORKSLEEP.org
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Permalink Reply by Judy on
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Ahhhh, and does anyone else besides me smell the RRT organizations behind these "second thoughts" ???
Or am I just a pessimistic and suspicious ole broad who is smelling some rats???
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Permalink Reply by Banyon on
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Judy said:Ahhhh, and does anyone else besides me smell the RRT organizations behind these "second thoughts" ???
Or am I just a pessimistic and suspicious ole broad who is smelling some rats???
No Judy, I would guess that you have just observed over the years what the purpose of government licensing has been and at a gut level, at the very least, you understand it is a method for established professions to hold down the supply of the services they provide and hold up the prices. In other words these professions conspire with governments to 1) rob the consumer and 2) deny some individuals their right to earn a living.
Good observation Judy.
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Yes, I lump them all in - state health licensing agencies, FDA, and state teacher's licensors.
It is well known that the public schools are loaded with ineffective, incompetent teachers all of whom hold state teaching licenses.
Now I am not saying the licenses caused this situation, as there are other factors, such as teachers almost never get fired. But these teachers have state licenses, so the situation is telling us that state licenses absolutely do not ensure that we get competent teachers.
You know the same about the medical profession. Mary, if you move to a new town and need a new doctor, do you just find the nearest one that is licensed and make an appointment? Of course you don't.
You ask friends and neighbors for recommendations or search websites for reviews. You do this because you know the state license means little and plenty of charlatans, incompetents and quacks hold state medical licenses. Right?
The same is true for teachers. All of the teachers my kids had in high school had state licenses. But my kids and I tried to manipulate their schedules to avoid the incompetent teachers. This is very common.
Government licenses are ineffective.
This may be a new thought to many, but think about it for awhile and hold back on your gut instinct. You probably can think of many professionals holding state licenses that you would not like to deal with.
What I am proposing is a way of looking at economics and politics that is different from what we are used to. But I did not come up with this - there are plenty of good studies on the ineffectiveness and inefficiency of state licenses.
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I do not believe that licensure will drive up prices. As I said before the prices are based off of the doctor, the lab, and the insurance companies that are involved. The sleep tech makes about 5% of the overall cost for performing the study. Sometimes less. My pay comes from a market scale just like everyone else's.
I do find it funny that the argument against licensure is one of privatization. If we look back in history at the decisions of Nixon, and Reagan we should see that this has not been the solution. If we are going to lump all jobs with licensing such as teachers, or doctors shouldn't we consider all of the possibilities that come with privatization as well. Has are current economic situation not taught us that whether it be government, or privately controlled there are going to be bad and good apples in the drivers seat. As long as we continue to allow lobbyist, special interest group, and big buisiness to control things nothing is going to change.
Banyon I truly hope that you are able to put your new plan into action. I wish you the best of luck. I would get on it though. With Atlanta having one of the largest, and best, sleep schools in the country I am sure that legislation is already moving forward there. I do not believe that you are going to be able to stop it though. Not without removing the RPSGT from sleep in your area. That my friend would be a tragedy for many future Pappers.
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Rock Hinkle said:Has are current economic situation not taught us that whether it be government, or privately controlled there are going to be bad and good apples in the drivers seat.
Rock, From looking at your avatar, I assume I am quite a few decades older than you. So I knew a few decades before "the current economic situation" that there are "good and bad" apples in both government and private business.
In private businesses, we just quit buying from the bad apples and they go out of business or are swallowed up by a more efficient competitor. I have seen many of them fall by the wayside in my years.
On the other hand, the bad apples in government just continue on and on. The bad bureaucracies continue on an on. It is extremely difficult to take a bad law off the books.
My interactions with business are voluntary. I have choice and I can go elsewhere if I don't like the price, quality or service.
My interactions with governments are not voluntary. I have no choice. A city sanitation department will pick up my trash on the day and time and in the manner and at the price (tax) in which they choose. I am not allowed to contract with another city or a private company.
If I try to exercise my right to choice - well, the government owns the guns, jails and prisons - I don't - so you know where that would lead.
Competition is messy, risky and frightening, but it has lead to great technical innovation and a very high standard of living. Government has not done that. Think about the eastern European countries. Think also about the dearth of technological innovation coming out of western Europe in the last twenty years.
Besides, there is a fundamental moral point for me. God made all mankind individuals and gave them free will. I believe he also expects no man to have dominion over another. Let the individuals make their choices as long as they don't trample on the same rights that others have. I, for one, think it would be immoral of me to organize governments to tell others what to do with their lives and resources.
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I agree with most of that. There are pros and cons to both of our solutions. I do not want to turn this into a free market vs government debate. we could argue over which is the puppet and which is the puppet master for days. As it is I still have to play the cards in my hand.
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Wanted to bring this one to the top again. I want people to see the arguments as well as my explanation.
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Permalink Reply by Walt Service on
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Good Lord....what an impressive discussion. I've been in this field over 13years and in the medical industry for over 20 (yikes....) and really can't think of any valid reason why those in the in the sleep industry wouldn't want to be licensed. Sure, just because someone is licensed that doesn't mean they are god's gift to the field, but just like being licensed in any profession, it shows that they have met the basic standards for that profession and they are in current good standings for that profession...
Sleep Medicine is growing by leaps and bounds...having all RPSGTs becomed licensed is only going to help.
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Below are links where two doctors write about how worthless, even counterproductive, their recertifications are. These are certifications by non-profit physician-led boards. Just imagine how counterproductive government licensing authorities must be!
http://www.medpagetoday.com/Blogs/19510?utm_content=GroupCL&utm...
http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2010/04/recertification-doctors-improve...
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I agree that licensure recertifications for doctors are worthless, even counterproductive. I also know that almost all medical license renewal processes can be bypassed by obtaining some sort of continued education credits. For doctors these come in a variety of ways. All you have to do is attend a class, conference, or lecture of some sort to receive them. ALL medical personell should voluntarily persue a continued education. In return they will not have to re-certify. I do not know anything about these 2 physician. My first thought would be lazy and uncommmited.
If the doctors in question are surgeons, or specialist of any kind then they should be re-tested often. I would also like to remind you that this conversation was about sleep techs and not doctors. Everything is different for doctors. Some good, some bad.
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Forgive me, Rock Hinkle, this thread should be about sleep techs rather than doctors - but - recent posts to the topic made me think of a current situation I've encountered. I'm now looking for a new gastroenterologist.
My current gastro was first a family practitioner and all her patients LOVED her. She decided to specalize in gastroenterology and she has been a wonderful gastro - until lately. She's gone on to get an M.P.H. and her patients are seeing a change in her: less empathy w/her patients, she now responds to questions as if being challenged, etc., etc. This is a case where continuing medical education, in this case expanding outside of the specialty, has NOT been an asset or an improvement.
My husband has always said what you have in your head can't be taken away and I've always believed that too, that you can never learn too much - but - now I'm not so convinced of that. That MPH might help her improve her business acumen in this upcoming new world of health care but several of her patients, including me, do NOT see it as improving the health care she provides, but rather the contrary.
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