How successful and cost-effective is your insomnia treatment program?

If your efforts are like many sleep labs or centers around the world, you know it’s not easy to incorporate Behavioral Sleep Medicine into your clinical care. You probably know first-hand the difficulties in trying to manage time and resources in treating insomnia patients, not to mention the inevitable reimbursement can of worms.

Now there’s a simple and inexpensive way to manage your insomnia patients. We’ve tested the program at our own facility, as well as at other sleep clinics to prove that it works.

The Problem

In our treatment of insomnia patients, we required numerous, lengthy appointments, yet we still needed to repeat sleep hygiene instructions and cognitive behavioral strategies over and over again.

We tried handouts describing behavioral changes and techniques. We scheduled weekly appointments, weekly follow-up phone calls, and even provided written instructions on discharge forms.  Again, we had to repeat these efforts multiple times, often with limited success and with limited or no reimbursement.

You’ve probably tried these or similar steps in your own clinic. And for some sleep specialists, prescription medications have seemed like the only remaining option. However, if your experience is anything like ours, you know these medications yield inconsistent results and rarely provide a long-term, satisfying solution.

As we increased our efforts to better manage our insomnia patients, our frustration increased as well...at which point we asked ourselves:  Could we develop a single, streamlined approach that would make efficient use of our clinical resources and time as well as enhance the quality of care for these vexing patients?

Ironically, the answer turned out to be a hidden jewel resting on our bookshelves: Insomnia Cures.

Serendipity

A few years after publishing Insomnia Cures, I met Dr. Brevard Haynes, a Tennessee sleep specialist, at the 2004 APSS conference.  At the time, I had published research on Sleep Dynamic Therapy® – my breakthrough approach to insomnia. He asked if I might have similar materials for his sleep clinic patients.

I told him about Insomnia Cures, the mini-book I had written to provide sleep hygiene and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in a readable and absorbable way - like no other book before it.

Dr. Haynes started with a dozen copies of the book, and has had such positive results that he currently uses more than 100 copies per year.  He tells us Insomnia Cures is ideally suited for sleep physicians who may not have the resources to spend several sessions educating their insomnia patients.

Dr. Haynes’ testimonial details how he uses the Insomnia Cures book in his sleep clinic:

“Dr. Krakow's Insomnia Cures is an integral component of my management of psychophysiological insomnia. As a busy sleep clinician, I do not have the luxury of being able to meet with my insomnia patients on a weekly basis for six weeks in order to implement cognitive behavioral strategies “After making the diagnosis of insomnia, I explain the pathophysiology of this disorder to the patient and outline a treatment regimen. I provide the patient with a copy of Dr. Krakow's book and ask the patient to pay for it.
“I emphasize that this book prescription is more important than any hypnotic prescription they have ever received.”The patients recognize the book’s potential value as more powerful than a sedative. The book is easy to read and apply, because it is constructed with 20 short chapters, ranging from 3 to 5 pages, written for all educational levels.  Dr. Haynes continues:

“I prefer Dr. Krakow's book to others on CBT because of its conciseness and the brevity of each chapter. Patients actually read it! The book reinforces what I have told the patient.” It greatly expedites care because the patient has new tools to use while waiting to see the physician or other provider.  Patients view the book as a homework assignment well worth their time.

“When the patient returns to see me, I ask which recommendations were most helpful and which were not in order to facilitate further discussion about their problem. I encourage other sleep physicians to consider this approach.” 
The most remarkable outcome from Insomnia Cures is that it really works.  Patients read the Quick Guides at the beginning of every chapter and routinely report how clear they find the instructions. They easily apply these steps and in many cases see immediate improvements in their insomnia.

Time and time again, Insomnia Cures helps patients successfully make effective behavioral changes such as:

•    They really do move the clock out of view and stop thinking about the number of hours they are sleeping.
•    They leave the bedroom when they can’t go back to sleep and return only when they are sleepy.
•    They learn the difference between “tired” and “sleepy” and apply the distinction at bedtime and in the middle of the night.

Real and lasting results are possible for even the most complex insomnia patients you might manage.

The Solution

Imagine how the Insomnia Cures book will work in your clinic:

Let’s say a patient presents with sleeplessness, awakening often, and unable to go back to sleep. Or, they report racing thoughts and difficulties falling asleep.

Instead of writing a prescription for a sedative or hypnotic, scheduling a series of weekly appointments, or spending more than an hour trying to ingrain sleep hygiene or CBT strategies, you prescribe a copy of Insomnia Cures. If you make Insomnia Cures part of your treatment process, your patients will treat it like a prescription.

The cost of the book is less than a medication co-pay on almost all insurance policies.  And, it’s just a one-time cost that yields nightly results for a lifetime.

In less than 15 minutes, you can accomplish what often requires multiple appointments, saving hours of valuable clinic encounter time. More importantly, you introduce a treatment path empowering patients to discover insomnia remedies that work best for them.

Sleep physicians, psycho-logists, psychiatrists, primary care doctors and other therapists have successfully used the Insomnia Cures book. All providers are surprised by how little the book costs, and how easily it can be incorporated into their insomnia programs.

Some facilities resell the book, while others provide it at no charge.

I would like to invite you to try the Insomnia Cures book in your clinic. You can order various quantities using this fax order form or by clicking here.