BIG NEWS: CMS final TAVR coverage decision, biggest change to TAVR coverage since 2012. Here’s my summary from the long 105-page statement: - Symptomatic severe aortic stenosis is now covered as standard care. No mandatory registry enrollment. - Asymptomatic severe aortic stenosis is newly covered, but only for patients enrolled in Medicare-approved studies. - The heart team stays. Every patient still needs input from both cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology (can be done through chart review), plus an in-person visit with one TAVR operator before the day of the procedure. - The two-operator requirement is gone. Now one qualified operator can do the case alone. - Two operators are still covered if the heart team decides they’re needed and that can be in any combination: surgeon + interventional cardiologist, two interventional cardiologists, or two surgeons. - Volume requirements now apply to the operator, not the hospital: at least 20 transcatheter valve cases a year (15 of them TAVR). - Hospitals still need on-site cardiac surgery program. @6ayyeboon @AlkashkariWail @mirvatalasnag @BinAbdulHak_A @amrmohsen213 @MarwanSaadMD @aelsab @MusaSharkawi @MohammedQintar @mhammadah @JDDCFratti @acamajmd @Almanfi_Cardio @scottiejj12