Atlanta, Ga. (August 30, 2024) – Piedmont Atlanta Hospital has maintained an elite three-star rating from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) for patient care and outcomes in transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in the national TVT Registry.
This is the second year in a row the program has received this elite rating, and puts the program in the 95th percentile nationally. TAVR is a minimally-invasive procedure for patients with aortic stenosis, a type of heart valve disease where the aortic valve is narrowed and doesn’t fully open, reducing or blocking blood flow.
“Congratulations to the Piedmont valve teams whose commitment to quality has resulted in continued excellent TAVR outcomes,” says Vinod Thourani, M.D., the Bernie Marcus Chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery and the Marcus Valve Center, and the current chair of the STS/ACC TVT Registry. A collaboration between STS and ACC, the TVT Registry is a public reporting program that monitors patient safety and real-world outcomes related to all transcatheter valve procedures in the United States.
Out of 847 sites doing TAVR in the United States, only 20 centers received a three-star rating, placing Piedmont Atlanta among the top 3% of institutions in the country. The latest analysis of data covers a period from Oct. 1, 2022, to Sept. 30, 2023.
“I am so proud of our Piedmont Heart team as we continue to excel, provide patients with top quality cardiac care and set the bar in quality across the state of Georgia and nationally,” said Pradeep Yadav, M.D., Interventional Cardiologist and Director, Transcatheter Valve Therapies, Piedmont Heart Institute Atlanta.
In addition to Atlanta, Piedmont Heart also performs TAVR procedures at Piedmont Athens Regional and Piedmont Augusta. “Piedmont Athens received a strong two-star rating, and we expect Piedmont Augusta to share great results next year once the program is eligible for reporting,” said Dr. Yadav.
“As the largest program in the Southeast for transcatheter valve disease management, continually receiving this top rating re-affirms that we are also top for quality in our region and nationally. Our multi-disciplinary teams including physicians, Advanced Practice Practitioners and nurses, continue to make a positive difference in the lives of our patients by allowing them to be evaluated for both surgical and transcatheter therapies with the highest quality,” Thourani says.
Piedmont Heart Institute is a top destination for cardiovascular care, ranking in the top 5 percent in the country, and is the only program in Atlanta consistently recognized with the Cardiac Care Excellence Award – a mark of quality it has earned for more than 10 years. Piedmont also is an international leader in cardiovascular research enabling patient access to innovative therapies earlier and not available elsewhere.
For more information about Piedmont Heart, visit piedmont.org/heart.