Inequities in the initial growth of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) programs in American hospitals has led to less use of the transformative procedure in poorer communities, a new cross-sectional study suggests.
Using Medicare claims data, investigators identified 554 new TAVR programs created between January 2012 and December 2018.
Of these, 98% were established in metropolitan areas (>50,000 residents) and 53% were started in areas with pre-existing TAVR programs, "thereby increasing the number of programs but not necessarily increasing the geographic availability of the procedure," said study author Ashwin Nathan, MD, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Only 11 programs were started in nonmetropolitan areas over the study period, he noted during the featured clinical research presentation at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) 2021 virtual meeting.
Hospitals that established TAVR programs, compared with those that did not, cared for patients with higher median household incomes (difference, $1305; P = .03) and from areas with better economic well-being based on the Distressed Communities Index (difference, –3.15 units; P < .01), and cared for fewer patients with dual eligibility for Medicaid (difference, –3.15%; P < .01).
When the investigators looked at rates of TAVR between the core-based statistical areas, there were fewer TAVR procedures per 100,000 Medicare beneficiaries in areas with more Medicaid dual-eligible patients (difference, –1.19% per 1% increase), lower average median household incomes (difference, –0.62% per $1000 decrease), and more average community distress (difference, –0.35% per 1 unit increase;
