By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

A service offered by St. Luke Hospital about two years is now accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Health Care.

The hospital has done sleep studies for about two years, Gail Boaldin, chief nursing officer at St. Luke, said. Ordinary patient rooms are used.

Technicians come from a sleep study contractor, Rural Sleep, near Branson, Missouri, about once a month to monitor patients while sleeping.

Recorded results are interpreted by pulmonologist Robert Sourk in Hutchinson. Sourk sends diagnoses to the patient’s primary care physician, Boaldin said.

According to a press release from the hospital, the sleep study lab is St. Luke’s first specialty accreditation.

Recent changes made by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services make accreditation a requirement for hospitals that offer sleep studies.