Waking up to sleep clinics: Growing industry offers eye-opening investments

As the study of sleep disorders grows, so does the number of facilities that address these ailments.

By Mike Norbut, AMNews staff. Jan. 5, 2004.

Describing the study of sleep disorders as a late-blooming specialty is an understatement akin to calling the x-ray a decent invention. There are hospital beds and surgical instruments older than many sleep centers across the country.

For years, researchers promoted the importance of sleep studies to little avail. But as studies continue to highlight the harmful effects sleep disorders can have on a person's quality of life, as well as connections to other physical ailments such as congestive heart failure and obesity, the study of sleep has become a more common practice.

Better late than never, say physicians who have dedicated their careers to understanding and helping patients overcome what can be debilitating sleep ailments. The increased attention to their work has meant more patients being funneled their way, and it also has given some doctors the opportunity to make a ground-floor investment in a sleep clinic.

The growth of the sleep industry is undeniable. Membership in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine has more than doubled since 1993, from just more than 2,200 to nearly 4,900. Meanwhile, the academy reports the number of accredited facilities has jumped from three in 1978 to 678 in 2003. Nearly one-third of that growth has occurred since 2000 alone.

"It's a recognition of a large number of patients with significant sleep disorders, and not enough facilities available to them," said Stuart Menn, MD, an internist, pulmonologist and sleep disorders specialist. Dr. Menn is a part-owner of Pacific Sleep Medicine, which started in 1998 and now boasts eight freestanding sleep centers in southern California.