FAQ for Providers

1. How’s COAST different from traditional in-person or telehealth sleep therapy and self-help apps?

COAST offers scalable, provider-supervised clinical care.  COAST bridges the wide gap between the two non-medication  options providers have right now:  Traditional therapy is the best clinical care option but it’s not scalable.  Unsupervised self-help apps  offer scalability, but lack clinician-supervised care.

  • We fundamentally believe that healthcare providers should have multiple treatment options to match their patients’ sleep care needs. Some patients do well with self-help apps; some require intensive one-on-one traditional therapy. A vast majority can achieve optimal adherence and sleep outcomes with the right tools and light-touch guidance from you, their trusted healthcare provider.

2. Is COAST just another app?

No. COAST is a provider-centered clinical decision support platform designed by and for healthcare providers to optimize sleep patient workflow management. 

  • With COAST, any and all qualified healthcare providers can deliver high-quality, evidence-based sleep care in a way that makes sense in high-tempo, real-world, clinical practices and large healthcare organizations like yours.

3. What’s a clinical decision support platform?

To paraphrase the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), a clinical decision support (CDS) platform is a comprehensive suite of digital tools that accelerate and facilitate the clinical decision-making process, by using just-in-time information needed for timely and personalized patient care. 

A CDS includes different components such as (see sources): 

  • “patient data reports and summaries;”

  • “documentation templates;”

  • “alerts and reminders to care providers and patients;”

  • “Integrated clinical guidelines;”

  • “It provides clinicians, staff, patients, or other individuals with knowledge & person-specific information, intelligently filtered or presented at appropriate times, to enhance health and health care;”

4. I am not a sleep specialist. Can I use COAST?

Yes! COAST upskills any and all qualified healthcare providers who already manage patients presenting with sleep disorders such as insomnia (the most common sleep disorder), nightmares, or other sleep/wake challenges, or more generally, who present with suboptimal sleep.

  • If you and your team would like a refresher on the principles and practices of behavioral sleep medicine before you start using COAST, we offer a 3-hour CE-approved virtual workshop that can be scheduled at your convenience.

5. How do I know if NOCTEM’s solutions are for me and my practice?

If you answer yes to 1 or more of the following questions, NOCTEM’s solutions can help you, your practice, and your patients.

  1. Do you care for patients with acute or chronic sleep, physical, or mental health conditions? 

  2. Do you have patients who report problems falling or staying asleep?  

  3. Do you have to refer your patients for insomnia care to services where there are long waitlists, or that may require regular, long-distance traveling for specialty insomnia care?

  4. Are you a sleep specialist with a long waitlist to see patients with insomnia or other behavioral sleep disorders?

6. My patients have sleep apnea. Can I use COAST with them? Can it help with adherence?

Yes!  COMISA - comorbid insomnia and sleep apnea - is highly common: it is found in between 30% and 50% of sleep apnea patients, and between 30% to 40% of insomnia patients.

Insomnia may decrease adherence to sleep apnea treatments (e.g., PAP, dental appliances, nerve stimulation devices), and conversely, sleep apnea may impede response to insomnia treatments. 

Clinical trials have shown that treating insomnia with CBTI  - cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia - can improve sleep quality and even reduce the number of apneic events.

7. Most of my patients have comorbid chronic psychiatric or medical conditions. Can I use COAST with them? Can a sleep-focused treatment help with their other health conditions?

YES! In fact, insomnia is typically comorbid with (and not “secondary to”) other psychiatric or medical conditions, like depression, chronic pain, substance use disorders, diabetes, hypertension, etc. And, CBTI - cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia - has been consistently shown to improve sleep quality regardless of the presence of comorbid conditions.  

More generally, improving sleep quality has direct, measurable benefits on daytime functioning and mood. Treating your patients' sleep difficulties may just be the extra boost they need to improve health and overall quality of life. 

8. I serve an older population of patients. Can they use technology like COAST?

Yes, of course! First, recommended behavioral sleep treatments are the same for younger and older adults. Second, 83% of people between the ages of  50 and 64 owned a smartphone, and 61% of those 65 and older owned a smartphone in 2021, and their numbers keep rising. Third, NOCTEM’s solutions work just as well on tablets for those who prefer larger screens. 

9. How long will it take me to learn how to use COAST for my practice?

In less than 2 hours, we can onboard and train your team to use COAST efficiently and confidently. You’ll be ready to start using COAST with your patients on the same day. Our customer success team will be accessible on demand to address any questions that may come up. 

10. Do you offer just-in-time consults for technical or other questions?

Yes!  You will have a designated point of contact that will be available by phone, email, or text whenever you have a question or need assistance. Not a bot, not an AI assistant, but a real person. 

11. How much is a COAST subscription?

COAST is available on a monthly subscription basis, determined based on your patient volume and the number of providers on your team who will use COAST.  Contact us for a customized quote that offers the best value for your practice.

12. Is remote therapeutic monitoring covered by insurance? What are the CPT codes?

COAST is a clinical decision support platform under FDA enforcement discretion that is eligible for Remote Therapeutic Monitoring reimbursement.

CMS covers RTM codes, and the number of private insurers who cover RTM codes is rapidly growing.

RTM CPT codes are 98975, 98980, and 98981.  

13. Does COAST integrate with my EHR?

Yes! We've first developed simple, EHR-agnostic reporting that is easily imported to your practice's data systems and are continuously working to support more seamless workflows for continuity.

14. What kind of security measures assure my patients data privacy and security?

Privacy and security are paramount for us at NOCTEM. Our cloud-based solutions are HIPAA-compliant, secure, and adhere to the best practices.

  • All data is collected, encrypted, and stored in NOCTEM‘s cloud infrastructure managed by leading service providers. Your data is also protected by processes and procedures that include, dual-factor authentication, role-based access controls, secure private networks, load-balancers/gateways, and an application-layer firewall.

  • We will gladly work with your organization’s enterprise IT/security teams to ensure that our privacy and security meet all their requirements. We have completed this extensive process with several organizations to date.   

Trustworthy Sleep Resources