ACE Technology Guidances

ACE Technology Guidances communicate recommendations from the MOH Drug Advisory Committee or the MOH Medical Technology Advisory Committee on the funding status and appropriate use of drugs, vaccines or medical technologies that have been evaluated by ACE. The guidances also include the Committee’s rationale for the funding recommendations, and key clinical and economic evidence which informed their deliberations. Plain English Summaries (PES) to explain ACE Technology Guidances are available for patients and the public.

Published on 05 Feb 2019
Last Updated on 05 Feb 2019
A- A+
 
Guidance Recommendation
The Ministry of Health's MTAC has recommended:
  • Ambulatory sleep study or home sleep test (HST) with a type 2 or type 3 device for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) in adults aged ≥18 years who fulfil both (A) and (B).
    1. High pre-test probability for moderate-severe OSA, where signs and symptoms indicating a high pre-test probability for moderate-severe OSA include:
      • Excessive daytime sleepiness; and
      • At least two of the following three criteria: (i) habitual loud snoring; (ii) witnessed apnoea, gasping, or choking; and (iii) diagnosed hypertension
    2. No complicated conditions that include:
      • Awake hypoventilation or high risk of sleep-related hypoventilation;
      • Significant cardiopulmonary disease;
      • Long-term home oxygen therapy;
      • Chronic opiate medication use;
      • Parasomnias (such as REM behavioural disorder);
      • Severe insomnia;
      • Sleep-related movement disorders (such as periodic limp movement disorder);
      • Potential respiratory muscle weakness caused by neuromuscular conditions;
      • History of stroke;
      • Disorders of central hypersomnolence;
      • Nocturnal seizure; and
      • Environmental or personal factors precluding adequate acquisition and data interpretation from HST
  • The patient should be assessed, and raw HST data should be reviewed and interpreted by a trained sleep specialist able to interpret a polysomnogram, according to the institution-based clinical privileging criteria.
  • Quality assurance procedures should have been established for data acquisition from HST.

Subsidy status
Subsidy for HST is recommended for the abovementioned indications only.


Ambulatory Sleep Study for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnoea (2 May 2019)