Policy Work

The Ontario Home Respiratory Services Association (OHRSA) is the provincial voice of private sector home and community respiratory services providers, and their patients. The association represents the majority of employers delivering respiratory services funded under the Ministry of Health’s Assistive Devices Program (ADP).

In my role as Executive Director I support OHRSA members as they deliver world class care to Ontarians, and through collaboration with patients, associated medical professionals, and payors, work to evolve health policies in a manner that improves patient outcomes, patient experiences, and caregiver experiences all while delivering savings across the care cycles OHRSA members impact.

Every year more than 600,000 Canadians are tested for sleep apnea syndrome. The majority of these tests, often referred to as an HSAT (Home Sleep Apnea Test), are performed while the patient sleeps in their own bed. Most HSATs are “free of charge” and absent adherence to a  consistent governing Standard. In many Canadian provinces the costs of performing these HSATs are recovered through CPAP sales; a pain point of growing intensity for patients, payors (public & private), and PAP therapy providers.

This public affairs initiative aims to swing the pendulum from unregulated, hidden fee testing to reimbursed sleep diagnostics performed to a national Standard.

In 2017, Canadian private health insurers began delisting CPAP coverage for persons diagnosed with mild obstructive sleep apnea (AHI 5-15).  In 2021 I formed a collective including the Ontario Home Respiratory Association, the Alberta Lung Association, the Respiratory Home Care  Association of Alberta, the BC Respiratory and Sleep Providers Association, and the Canadian Sleep Society, and effectively lobbied private health insurers to reinstate coverage for mild OSA.

By invitation I was one of 7 stakeholders invited to help the Assistive Devices Program of Ontario update their home oxygen and respiratory policy manuals, with a focus on red tape reduction, medical eligibility criteria evolution commensurate with technology and industry best practice change, and process efficiency.

Over a 14 year period I contributed to the development of CSA Z7396.1, a public safety Standard governing the design, installation, commissioning, and maintenance of centrally piped medical gas systems. Through this policy development work I am credited with introducing quality control for gaseous drugs produced on-site at Canadian acute care hospitals.