The Future of Behavioral Sleep Medicine: A Report on the Presentations Given at the Ponte Vedra Behavioral Sleep Medicine Consensus Conference, March 27–29, 2009

Abstract

A major goal of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Consensus Conference held in Ponte Vedra, Florida on March 27 through 29, 2009 was to have 15 key opinion leaders provide the latest information on their areas of expertise. Those leaders represented the breadth of the behavioral sleep medicine field (pediatrics, adults, insomnia, PAP adherence, and circadian rhythm disorders) and included clinicians and researchers from a variety of settings (academia, private practice, the military, and primary care). The presentations highlighted the milestones already achieved by the field (critical mass, solid empirical base, 30+ training programs, certification, dedicated journal, and dedicated textbook), as well as important future directions (more clinical research, public relations campaigns, training, and reimbursement).

Notes

¹It is important to note that the education requirements presented at the conference ultimately deviated from those utilized by the 2010 exam. Significant changes to the eligibility requirements were enacted subsequent to the conference. Specifically, the BSM committee decided (with approval by the Board of Directors of the AASM) to limit the educational requirement to doctoral-level degrees (PhD, PsyD). Thus, neither master's-level practitioners nor physicians were eligible to sit for the 2010 exam. The exam committee decided to restrict physicians from exam eligibility as this policy was consistent with a broader movement toward discipline-specific certification within the AASM. The committee decided to restrict the eligibility of master's-level practitioners because it did not have enough information regarding either the scope of practice or state licensing laws that would be applicable to the various master's-level disciplines that practice BSM and that might seek certification. Not doing so may have left the American Board of Sleep Medicine open to potential lawsuits because of clinicians practicing outside their scope of practice while pointing to certification as evidence for their expertise to do so. In addition, the licensing requirement was revised to reflect the need for a valid doctoral license to provide mental health-related clinical services. Previously, the requirement was a license to provide health-related clinical services with no stipulation on the degree level of the license or the need for a mental health focus. This was particularly important, as most of the interventions provided within BSM are considered psychotherapy.