March 14, 2019 — Beginning in mid-2019, hospitals performing transcatheter valve repair and replacement will be able to apply for the American College of Cardiology’s new Transcatheter Valve Certification. The certification was announced at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Quality Summit in New Orleans.
The ACC’s Transcatheter Valve Certification is an external review and certification process that will assist hospitals in meeting standards for multidisciplinary teams, formalized training, shared decision-making and registry performance. Participation in established national clinical databases, such as the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS)/ACC TVT (Transcatheter Valve Therapy) Registry, is required for hospitals interested in achieving Transcatheter Valve Certification.
“ACC’s Transcatheter Valve Certification tool merges the latest science and process improvement methodologies,” said Phillip D. Levy, M.D., FACC, chair of the ACC Accreditation Management Board. “This certification incorporates recent guidelines and expert consensus statements regarding the care of patients requiring transcatheter valve therapies.”
The certification uses established national clinical measures data to support clinical decisions and links process improvement to patient outcomes. This ensures the certification is responsive to the resourcing at hospitals focused and committed to performance improvement in patient care delivery and coordination post-procedure. By connecting the data to opportunities for improvement, Transcatheter Valve Certification promotes consistent processes across the care continuum and better patient outcomes.
Hospitals that achieve Transcatheter Valve Certification will learn best practices for implementing evidence-based medicine to support decision-making in the care of individual patients and be able to track key performance metrics to better identify opportunities for improvement.
For more information: www.accreditation.acc.org