ISD Health Solutions enters the local healthcare market

Sleep apnea and respiratory care provider ISD Health Solutions is preparing to officially enter the local market, finalizing plans to open its first store in Kingston next month.

“Through this local expansion, we are providing people with the opportunity to receive training and access to clinicians who are knowledgeable in the field of sleep disorders and can respond to a wide range of concerns affecting their children and partners. By offering them the convenience of testing in their own home wirelessly using home sleep testing devices and accessories, our service will enable them to capture data and transmit it to a physician for review, allowing practitioners to make a diagnosis and, if necessary, advise on an appropriate treatment protocol.” , said founder, CEO and clinical director Gregory Arnault during an interview with
Jamaican columnist This week.

“This is a very lucrative space and with a target market of over a million people in Jamaica suffering from untreated sleep apnea, we are offering a niche market service that will help more people improve their sleep quality and get on with their lives.” better quality of life,” he further said Business Observer.

This service, which currently costs about $32,000 for several nights of monitoring and recording various measurements for sleep testing, attracts an additional $200,000 to $280,000 in various treatment options, with coverage provided by major health insurance providers islands.

In anticipation of the store’s official opening, the company is currently working with a network of medical specialists consisting of emergency medical technicians (EMTs), pulmonologists and cardiologists who refer patients for treatment.

The devices used for testing, which are available through the company, are also available through Fontana Pharmacy’s partner pharmacies. With other pharmaceutical groups being eyed, Arnault said the goal is to expand the distribution footprint as plans to expand further into the market are implemented. “After that, we will also open up to doctors, medical centers and other organizations that would like to conduct sleep studies.”

“In addition, we are also teaming up with people who may want a stake in our project, and we hope to complete those discussions in the next week or so. The costs of setting up the site, hiring staff, delivering equipment, etc. are quite significant and we will therefore be looking at a private equity capital injection of between US$700,000 and US$1 million as we look to further expand the project in Jamaica and the entire region,” said the founder and CEO.

ISD Healthcare Solutions, operating since 2011, has offices in Trinidad and Tobago and South Florida in the USA.

After preparing to open a store on Mountain View Avenue in Kingston, the company intends to embark on an aggressive growth path that should lead to further expansion with new stores.

“We plan to open another branch in Montego Bay at some point in 2025. In addition to locations, we also want to leverage our relationships with other brick-and-mortar organizations, such as pharmacies, dental offices and medical offices, to gain points in healthcare delivery. By working with these outlets, we want to leverage their foot traffic as we also target patients suffering from hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and erection problems, most of which in some cases are directly related to sleep apnea or sleep deprivation/insomnia. – said Arno.

“Regionally, we also want to expand into other markets such as the Cayman Islands, where we are currently working with some doctors, as well as St. Lucia, Barbados and Guyana. However, since Jamaica is the largest English-speaking territory, this area will be an important focus for us as we get our feet on the ground and move forward in construction by exiting this business,” he added.

Considered one of the most common but most underdiagnosed sleep disorders worldwide, sleep apnea affects both physical health and mental well-being, increasing the risk of mortality in more severe and long-lasting cases. The CEO and medical practitioner said that with more than a third of Jamaica’s population suffering from the disorder, the expansion of services comes at a very critical time when national discussions about the productivity that can be impacted by the disease remain a major talking point. locally.

By partnering with companies, the sleep apnea provider is also actively recruiting a range of public and private sector clients for whom it will conduct staff assessments as they join forces to offset lost productivity in the workplace.

“We want to do these assessments to look at employees and see how rested they actually are, whether they are tired and whether they have symptoms of a sleep disorder. We have already started working with companies such as Petrojam and have more assessments planned for more corporate groups in the coming months. We want companies to see how sleep deprivation can impact their workforce and profits. Studies have already shown that billions of dollars have been lost worldwide in countries like the United States as a result of these impacts,” Arnault said.