Abstract Introduction Adherence to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), the gold-standard treatment for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), often remains suboptimal. The “Epic MyChart Sleep Care Plan” is a novel, Electronic Medical Record (EMR) integrated tool, developed by the research team with EMR support, designed to provide centralized education, device- and mask-specific guidance, reminders, and patient-reported sleep quality questionnaires with automated feedback. This pilot study evaluates whether use of this tool is associated with improved CPAP adherence. Methods An initial feasibility study informed improvements to the MyChart Sleep Care Plan, which remained available for eligible patients to enroll via the patient portal throughout the study period. Following IRB approval, a retrospective chart review was performed using data from the UConn Health Pulmonary/Sleep Clinic (April 2024–August 2025). Two cohorts were compared: patients enrolled in and using the Sleep Care Plan and a control group of newly diagnosed OSA with CPAP prescription during the same period. A total of 36 patients in the Sleep Care Plan cohort and 245 patients in the control cohort were analyzed after applying predefined exclusion criteria. The primary outcome was 90-day CPAP adherence per Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) criteria. Group comparisons used Wilcoxon rank-sum tests and Fisher’s exact tests for continuous and categorical variables respectively. Factors associated with adherence were similarly assessed. Statistical significance was set at p 0.05, and analyses were performed in R version 4.5.1. Results The overall cohort had a median age of 55 years (IQR 43–66), was 52.3% male, and had a median BMI of 32.5 kg/m2 (IQR 28.5–37.9). The Sleep Care Plan group was younger (median 49 vs 56 years) and had fewer males (41.7% vs 53.9%) than controls, although differences were not statistically significant. CPAP adherence was higher in the Sleep Care Plan group compared with controls (83.3% vs 66.5%), approaching but not reaching statistical significance (p = 0.053). Adherent patients overall tended to be older, more likely non-Hispanic White and more likely insured through Medicare/Medicaid. Conclusion Use of the “MyChart Sleep Care Plan” may improve CPAP adherence. Larger, prospective studies are needed to confirm this finding. Support (if any) None
Oo et al. (Fri,) studied this question.