Heart failure & cardiomyopathiesCross-sectional study
A National Survey of Veterans Affairs (VA) to Assess Availability of Care for Patients With Cardiac Amyloidosis
- quality improvement study
- survey instrument
- national survey
Authors' conclusion
The VA appears strongest at the initial diagnostic stages, with high availability to initiate a workup for transthyretin CA, with considerable latent capacity to support comprehensive CA care including a high-risk patient population, widespread diagnostic capabilities, national access to therapies, and robust telehealth infrastructure. Targeted implementation to standardize CA care delivery, while leveraging existing strengths, could meaningfully improve care for Veterans with CA.
Study context
- Population
- VA cardiology programs caring for Veterans with cardiac amyloidosis (CA)cardiology programs with complete responses (42.5%) of all 127 VA cardiology programs surveyed
- Participants
- 54 participants
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Complete responses from cardiology programs
54 (42.5%)
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Variability in program-level experience, clinician comfort, access to diagnostics, and therapeutics
- Substantial variability regardless of clinical complexity index designation
Clinician comfort treating CA
- Respondents feeling "very comfortable" treating CA
- 31 (57.4%)
- Respondents "hesitant" to provide care for Veterans with CA
- 7 (13.0%)
Cardiologists managing CA patients
- Programs with only one cardiologist managing CA patients
- 12 (22.2%)
- Programs with no cardiologists treating Veterans with CA
- 7 (13.0%)
Formalized multidisciplinary CA team
- Programs with a formalized multidisciplinary CA team
- 4 (7.4%)
Facility complexity and size, scope, or readiness to care for Veterans with CA
- No obvious relationship
Original publication
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it