About SMD accreditation
CPSA promotes patient safety and quality care in Alberta’s sleep medicine diagnostic (SMD) facilities. We accredit facilities who provide one or more levels of testing:
- Level 1 – Overnight Polysomnography in a Lab
- Level 2 – Unattended Polysomnography in a Facility or Home
- Level 3 – Home Sleep Apnea Testing (HSAT)
Want to know if your nearest SMD facility has CPSA Accreditation? Email us using the contact form at the bottom of this page.
Credentialing & privileging
Medical directors are responsible for decisions on credentialing and privileging of regulated members within their CPSA-accredited medical facilities. Having a robust credentialing and privileging process is one of the most important ways medical directors support safe, high-quality patient care.
On this page
Information for new SMD facilities
Assessing new facilities
We assess new facilities before they open to the public. Facilities have to register with us to start the process.
Apply to be accredited
For a physician to direct an SMD facility, provide or interpret tests in an SMD facility or give a referral for a facility to do SMD tests, the facility must be assessed and accredited. When your facility is ready to start testing, let us know and we’ll schedule and perform an on-site assessment to either accredit you or ask you to make some improvements. It costs $300 +GST to register a new facility. See more information about facility annual fees and assessment fees.
If you’re a medical director of a new facility and you’ve already registered with us, we recommend reviewing the Program Guide for New SMD Facilities to prepare for your assessment.
Information for existing SMD facilities
Re-assessing accredited facilities
Every four years, we re-assess SMD facilities to make sure they still adhere to our robust quality standards. To learn more about CPSA’s 4-year re-accreditation cycle, download and review the 4-year re-assessment program guide.
Changes to your facility?
Are you planning to:
- close your facility?
- move your facility?
- change owners?
- change your facility name?
- offer a new type of testing?
- change your medical director?
- change the contact information for your facility?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you need to notify us by filling in the form below. We’ll review everything you’ve shared with us and let you know if we need to re-assess your facility.
Download and review the Program Guide for Managing Changes to your Facility to learn more about how CPSA handles changes to accredited facilities, and when you should notify us.
SMD fees
Learn more about facility registration fees, annual fees, assessment fees and post-renovation/facility relocation assessment fees.
SMD FAQs
All FAQsCan an out-of-province physician interpret the results of sleep tests performed in Alberta?
Yes, as long as they meet the Alberta requirements for interpreting Sleep Medicine Diagnostic studies. If they provide this service more than 5 times a year, the physician needs to have a CPSA Independent Practice Permit, meet our standard of practice on Telemedicine and have CPSA approval to interpret SMD tests.
Can one credentialed person supervise sleep medicine activities at multiple locations? Does every accredited facility have to have a supervisor with credentials?
It depends on the circumstance. Labs are responsible for identifying the type of service, the kinds of staffing, the necessary training and the level of supervision required to keep the scope of their work within the standards.
Do the requirements for technical personnel (e.g., Certified Technologists), apply to all sleep medicine facilities or only Level I (comprehensive polysomnography) facilities?
The requirements for technical personnel apply to all accredited sleep labs regardless of the level of testing provided.
Does a patient need a referral from their doctor to have a Home Sleep Apnea Test (HSAT)?
Yes, an HSAT, like any other diagnostic test, needs to be ordered by a physician or qualified nurse practitioner.
How do I get SharePoint access for my assessment?
If you’re currently involved in the assessment process, you should have received credentials from CPSA to access a confidential SharePoint site where all you assessment information is stored and shared with you. Lost your credentials? Contact sleep.medicine@cpsa.ab.ca
How do I get a copy of the SMD accreditation standards?
The standards are available to facilities once they have registered for assessment.
What should I expect during an assessment?
You can continue caring for patients normally while your facility is being assessed. A CPSA Assessment Coordinator will be in and out of your lab during the working day. Having an extra person on staff during your assessment can be helpful. To make the process as smooth as possible, we also collect data about your facility before your assessment.
When can I share with others that my lab is accredited by CPSA?
When you receive full accreditation status from CPSA, you can start sharing that you have CPSA accreditation.
About our standards
CPSA accreditation standards are based on input from field experts, best practices and research by other regulators, standard-setting bodies and industry associations. Access the standards by registering your facility for assessment.
While accreditation decisions are made by the CPSA Medical Facility Accreditation Committee, CPSA Council approves all of our accreditation standards.
If you are the medical director of an accredited facility, or if your facility is undergoing accreditation, you may access our standards through our secure SharePoint site.
Request a standard revision
Do you have a suggestion to improve the accreditation standards for sleep medicine diagnostic facilities? Complete and submit the Standards Revision Request Form. We review our standards every year to ensure they meet current best practices. Your request will be reviewed at this time and a CPSA representative will follow up with you about your feedback.
Questions or feedback? We'd love to hear from you.
Phone: 780-423-4764
Toll-free: 1-800-561-3899 ext. 4938 (in Canada)
Fax: 780-428-2712