The Board of Directors has created a new standing committee, the Documents Review Committee. The major responsibility of the Documents Review Committee is to triage project proposals that result in the creation of a document.

Evidence- and consensus-based guidelines are at the heart of our clinical practice, and members rely on these documents as an increasing number of government agencies and private companies look to the AASM for guidance in setting their policy. The Standards of Practice Committee and various Task Forces have always done an exceptional job developing standards of practice and clinical guidelines for the field, and identifying topics that are critical for address. However, currently the organization is lacking a formal process that gives members an active role in providing input and allows for the prioritization of evidence- and consensus-based documents.

Specific expertise, especially with Standards of Practice guidelines and review papers, is required for the success of this new process. Recognizing this, the Board of Directors identified experts who have extensive knowledge of evidence-based guidelines and the AASM to serve on the Documents Review Committee.

The Board of Directors, only chairs of standing committees and chairs of sections can submit projects through a formal proposal process. Any section member can initiate the process through their Membership Section Chair. The Documents Review Committee then reviews submitted proposals and, when approved, sends it to the appropriate group (e.g., Standards of Practice Committee, Board of Directors) for address. After the project is approved and the appropriate group completes the paper, the Documents Review Committee sends it to peer-reviewers, and works with the original group to ensure the comments of the reviewers are addressed in the final draft. The final draft is then sent to the Board of Directors for approval, and the complete document is published in SLEEP or Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.