The global field of sleep medicine is at a critical inflection point, and at the heart of it lies a shared challenge—the shortage of qualified sleep technologists. With rising awareness of sleep disorders and their link to chronic health conditions, the demand for structured training and certification has surged, particularly in the rapidly developing Asia-Pacific market.
In response, stakeholders from around the world are coming together with a shared mission: to build scalable, sustainable, and culturally responsive pathways for sleep technologist training and certification. At the forefront of these efforts is the Board of Registered Polysomnographic Technologists (BRPT), which has worked closely with regional partners to promote credentialing, strengthen professional standards, and meet the growing demand for sleep care across Asia.
One of BRPT’s key partners is the Chinese Non-government Medical Institutions Association (CNMIA)—the largest private health care consortium in China, representing more than 25,000 member hospitals and overseeing 83 professional committees. CNMIA’s active role in advancing sleep medicine underscores its strong institutional commitment to building a highly qualified, structured sleep workforce for the future. With its nationwide reach and expertise, CNMIA plays a key role in scaling access to sleep care across China.
A Milestone Moment in Shanghai
March 2024 marked a major turning point in this collaboration between the BRPT and CNMIA, with the launch of the first BRPT-accredited sleep technologist training initiative ever held in China.
The New England Sleep Academy (NESA) hosted the inaugural BRPT-designated STAR Training Program at DeltaHealth Hospital in Shanghai. Signaling a new era of credentialed education in the region, the program welcomed more than 120 in-person attendees and more than 3,000 virtual participants.
The event was more than a course launch—it was a rallying point for a regional movement. BRPT President Amber Allen, BA, RST, RPSGT, CCSH, delivered the keynote address, emphasizing the urgency of workforce development and the critical role of credentialed pathways. The speakers were passionate about addressing the sleep technologist shortage with innovative ideas, actionable steps, and a strong desire for collaboration.
The program brought together leading experts from China and abroad, including Qiyang Li, MPH, MBA, RPSGT, CCSH, and Xiaowen Yang, MD, co-founders of NESA and HuiCi Healthcare; Dr. Xilong Zhang, MD, chair of the Sleep-Disordered Breathing Committee of the Chinese Sleep Research Society; and Deming Hao, MD, the Secretary General of CNMIA. Collectively, they emphasized China’s critical need for structured sleep tech education and expressed strong support for long-term collaboration with the BRPT.
Dr. Yang pointed to STAR programs like NESA and Collin College as strong models for workforce development and emphasized the value of RPSGT and CCSH credentials in elevating the quality of care. She also reaffirmed CNMIA’s commitment to supporting BRPT-aligned training in response to the region’s rapid growth and the growing demand for credentialed sleep professionals.
Dr. Zhang voiced the Chinese Sleep Research Society’s support for national adoption of sleep technologist training. Dr. Hao announced CNMIA’s plan to open sleep centers in 10 hospitals in 2024 and 50 more by 2025 and to establish a Sleep Medicine Committee within the CNMIA eco-system.
Expanding BRPT’s presence
The success of the NESA program helped catalyze deeper conversations at the national level. Just a few months later, CNMIA hosted the inaugural meeting of its Sleep Medicine Professional Committee on July 2, 2024. Bringing together more than 400 medical leaders and representatives from across China, the multidisciplinary audience spanned sleep medicine, respiratory care, neurology, psychiatry, ENT, cardiology, and dentistry—reflecting the integrated nature of sleep health.
Dr. Hao described sleep medicine as a natural convergence of specialties, emphasizing that the committee’s formation marked a new chapter in elevating sleep care across the non-public healthcare sector. Wen Daxiang, director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Health, echoed this sentiment, noting that while sleep issues are a significant public health concern in China, access to trained professionals remains limited.
Dr. Yang, founding chair of the CNMIA Sleep Committee, pointed to the opportunity ahead. She stressed that education and credentialing are central to building sleep medicine and technology into a core component of public health and called for closer collaboration with international organizations such as BRPT. Her vision: a system where Chinese technologists are trained, certified, and globally recognized.
A Credential as a Symbol of Trust
BRPT’s goal is to support the development of sleep technologists who are prepared, respected, and empowered. Credentialing is not the finish line, it’s the foundation for better care, stronger teams, and healthier communities.
BRPT’s impact is already being felt across the Asia-Pacific. In countries where credentialing systems are still developing, the RPSGT has become a widely respected symbol of excellence, both validating individual technologists and serving as a benchmark for sleep center quality.
In many sleep centers across Asia, RPSGT certificates aren’t just displayed, they’re a point of pride. They show patients that they’re in capable hands, and they remind technologists every day why their work matters.
For many institutions, showcasing BRPT credentials helps foster a culture of accountability, continuous learning, and professional pride. It also sets the stage for trust—between technologists and patients, between staff and leadership, and across national and international networks.
A Region in Motion
A deeper look into the regional context highlights how varied the sleep technologist landscape is across Asia. Countries like China, Japan, India, South Korea, and Thailand are at different stages of development. Some, like Singapore and Saudi Arabia, have formal expectations for technologists to hold credentials like the RPSGT. Others, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, rely heavily on on-the-job training and are still building certification systems.
Yet across the region, momentum is building. In Singapore, 10 new RPSGTs have emerged in the past two years. The Singapore Sleep Society hosts a well-attended annual conference that includes a sleep technologist track, and World Sleep 2025 will be hosted in Singapore later this year. In Saudi Arabia, where obstructive sleep apnea is highly prevalent, hospitals have increased their demand for credentialed sleep professionals. The past two years alone have seen the addition of 27 RPSGTs there.
South Korea, another fast-growing market, encourages technologists to pursue RPSGT certification even though no formal training system currently exists. Much of the preparation occurs through partnerships with medical institutions and societies. The Thai Sleep Society has established a two-tier training system with basic and advanced certification courses in Thailand. Although only one RPSGT has been credentialed in Thailand in the past two years, the country’s structured approach, including a four-month training program through five collaborating sleep centers, indicates a growing national investment.
According to BCC Research, the Asia-Pacific sleep lab market is projected to surge to $4.93 billion, with China, India, Japan, and South Korea leading the way in market growth, awareness, and professional development. In contrast to the U.S., where home sleep apnea testing (HSAT) has become increasingly widespread—the Asia-Pacific region remains heavily focused on in-lab testing, further intensifying the need for highly trained, credentialed sleep technologists who can perform and interpret complex studies.
The Road Ahead
While demand surges, a critical challenge persists: training pipelines and credentialing systems remain underdeveloped in many parts of the region. The Asian Society of Sleep Medicine has issued guidance recommending a minimum of six months of structured experience with PSGs, MSLTs, and HSATs. However, implementation of these guidelines has been inconsistent, revealing stark disparities in education and training standards across countries. This gap underscores the urgency for partnerships, such as those initiated through BRPT, CNMIA, and regional societies—to establish shared frameworks for education, certification, and professional development. Without these collaborations, the capacity to meet rising demand will remain limited, and the broader goal of equitable, high-quality sleep care across Asia will remain out of reach.
What emerged from both the launch of the NESA STAR Training Program and the establishment of the CNMIA Sleep Medicine Professional Committee has since carried into every initiative: a shared sense of resolve that the sleep technologist shortage cannot be solved by any one country alone. It requires global coordination, mutual recognition of credentials, and training pathways that reflect both clinical rigor and cultural context. Solutions must be scalable and tailored, reflecting not just the volume of patients but also each country’s cultural and educational frameworks.
As sleep medicine continues to expand across Asia, BRPT’s partnerships with organizations like CNMIA, the Chinese Sleep Research Society, and the Asian Society of Sleep Medicine are setting the tone for global cooperation. The success of STAR programs in China could serve as a model for neighboring countries looking to improve care delivery through education and certification. In doing so, these efforts don’t just address workforce shortages, they elevate the profession, standardize care, and ultimately improve lives.
The global expansion of sleep technology is no longer a distant vision—it is already unfolding across China, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, and beyond. With strong leadership and credentialing pathways like the RPSGT and CCSH, the future of sleep medicine is not only brighter, but more connected, collaborative, and capable than ever before.
By Amber Allen, BA, RST, RPSGT, CCSH and Qiyang Li, MPH, MBA, RPSGT, CCSH
Source: SleepWorld Magazine Jul/Aug 2025
By Amber Allen, BA, RST, RPSGT, CCSH, is the president of the BRPT Board of Directors. She is currently the program director of the CAAHEP-accredited Polysomnographic Technology Program at Collin College in McKinney, Texas.
Qiyang Li, MPH, MBA, RPSGT, CCSH, is a member of the BRPT Board of Directors. He currently serves as Head of Operations at HuiCi Healthcare Group, a leading network of sleep clinics in China with over 50 beds across seven sites. He is also the co-founder of New England Sleep Academy LLC.
Related Posts
Mount Sinai Physicians First in U.S. Analyzing Lung Disease in Coronavirus Patients from China
Shaping the Future of Sleep Health
iNO May Reduce Kidney Complications from Heart Surgery Requiring Cardiopulmonary Bypass
Pingback: SoundHealth's Revolutionary AI Airway Screening Tool Presented at World Sleep 2025