Five societies tell CMS not to drop the surgeon requirement from TAVR coverage rules
Plus: ACC finds up to 20% of cardiologists tapped for mandatory risk model may be misclassified. The day's rules, money, and enforcement, sourced and tiered below.
Plus: ACC finds up to 20% of cardiologists tapped for mandatory risk model may be misclassified. The day's rules, money, and enforcement, sourced and tiered below.
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American Health Intel
Rules · Money · Medicine · Decoded daily
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| The Service Line |
Tuesday, July 21, 2026 |
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Five societies tell CMS not to drop the surgeon requirement from TAVR coverage rules
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Plus: ACC finds up to 20% of cardiologists tapped for mandatory risk model may be misclassified. The day's rules, money, and enforcement, sourced and tiered below.
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Rule Confidence: High
Five cardiology and cardiac-surgery societies just told CMS that letting a single operator run a TAVR procedure without a surgeon in the room goes too far. CMS rules by September 13.
ACC, SCAI, STS, AATS and HFSA filed joint comments ahead of CMS's July 15 deadline, also pushing to keep evidence-development requirements for higher-risk TAVR patient groups.
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Why it matters
This fight decides whether every TAVR patient must be evaluated by both a surgeon and a cardiologist before the procedure, a safeguard CMS is now reconsidering. Watch for CMS's decision memo by September 13.
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Rule Confidence: Medium
Up to 1 in 5 cardiologists CMS picked for its mandatory 2027 Medicare risk model may not belong there, per the American College of Cardiology's own coding analysis.
The Ambulatory Specialty Model swings payment 9% either way starting Jan 1, 2027 for its ~8,600-physician roster. ACC wants CMS to fix specialty misclassification before rosters lock.
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Why it matters
A coding error could pull the wrong doctors into a mandatory five year Medicare risk program with payment swings of plus or minus 9 percent starting January 1, 2027. Watch whether CMS corrects its classification before rosters lock.
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