Valvular & structural heart disease
Linking the TVT Registry to Medicare Advantage and Fee-for-Service Claims: Feasibility, Accuracy, and Implications for Real-World Surveillance Infrastructure
Authors' conclusion
Inclusion of MA claims in Medicare linkage to TAVR or mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair increased cohort size, enhanced subgroup representation, and maintained linkage rates despite declining FFS enrollment. These findings support incorporation of MA data into real-world surveillance, clinical evidence generation, and quality initiatives.
Study context
- Population
- Patients ≥65 years old in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons/American College of Cardiology Transcatheter Valve Therapy Registry undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) or mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair, January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2021eligible Transcatheter Valve Therapy TAVR procedures
- Participants
- 364,573 patients
- Exposure
- Fee-for-service (FFS) vs Medicare Advantage (MA)
- FFSn = 206,116
- MAn = 111,662
- Outcome
- Linkage rate and representativeness of the linked cohort
Methodological detailslinked using indirect identifiers to MA and FFS claims
- Linked using indirect identifiers to MA and FFS claims
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
- Combined linkage rate
- 87%
- Inclusion of MA data increased the number of linked procedures
- 54%
- Increase in Hispanic linkage
- 2.26-fold
- Increase in Black linkage
- 1.91-fold
- Characteristics of linked TAVR cohort closely matched full registry, most absolute differences
- under 1%
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | FFS | MA | Difference (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unadjusted 1-year TAVR mortality · unadjusted | 12.6% | 11.8% | 0.8% (0.6–1.1) | |
| −0.500.511.5Difference (linear scale) |
Mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair cohort
- Findings were similar in the mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair cohort
Original publication
Linking the TVT Registry to Medicare Advantage and Fee-for-Service Claims: Feasibility, Accuracy, and Implications for Real-World Surveillance Infrastructure. Circ Cardiovasc Interv. Published 6 August 2026. doi:10.
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it