Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA) is seeking a solution to promote patient-adherence to CPAP therapy and OSA treatment by implementing a more comfortable and effective experience for patients.

Nova Scotia Health Authority is posting this Call for Innovation to seek out qualified Canadian companies who can meet the desired outcomes. Nova Scotia Health Authority and CAN Health reserves the right to not move forward with this project at its full discretion and in particular if there are no qualified Canadian companies that can reasonably meet the desired outcomes.

To qualify for a CAN Health project, the company must have its headquarter in Canada and/or the majority (>50%) of the company owned by Canadians and/or significant economic impact to Canada including a high Canadian job creation potential, >70% of contract value to Canada (for distributors of a non-Canadian solution), independent autonomy over business operations and product development (for subsidiaries, affiliates or distributors), current presence (office(s) and client(s)) and can benefit from the CAN Health Network. Priority will be given to companies that meet all eligibility criteria.

For more information on the Call for Innovation process and the commercialization projects funded by CAN Health Network, please refer to the FAQ page on the CAN Health Network website: https://canhealthnetwork.ca/faq/

This opportunity is closed.
Problem Statement and Objective(s)

Problem Statement: NSHA is seeking a solution to promote patient-adherence to CPAP therapy by implementing a more comfortable and effective experience.

Objectives: NSHA expects to increase the comfort and adherence to CPAP therapy for their patients and determine solution efficacy through a comfort and adherence study.

Desired outcomes and considerations

Essential (mandatory) outcomes
The proposed solution must:

  • Improved patient experience with CPAP therapy by targeting comfort.
  • Adherence to therapy in the first 3 months of use (% of patients that can use their CPAPs for more than 4hrs a night). Expect more than 5% improvement in adherence on cMAPTM-enabled machines.

The maximum duration for a project resulting from this Challenge is: 12 months

Background and context

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a sleep-related breathing disorder, affecting hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Untreated, OSA can lead to stroke, heart disease, diabetes, depression, and other comorbidities. The most common and conventional therapy for OSA involves using a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device, which attempts to maintain airway patency by continuously blowing pressurized air into the patient’s nose.

Although effective, CPAP therapy suffers from poor patient-adherence. It is estimated that adherence in the patient population drops by 50% by the third month of CPAP therapy treatment. Poor patient-adherence to CPAP therapy is associated with discomfort, and the need for innovative solutions that target patient-adherence to OSA treatments is necessary.

This opportunity is closed.