Centers of Excellence for PCI: How Excellent Are They?

Data from a New York State reporting system suggest that the designation has little relation to important outcomes.

Improving quality of care for patients with cardiovascular disease who are undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been a U.S. priority for several decades. Recently, health insurers have attempted to identify and reward high-quality care by developing centers of excellence (COE) programs, which are often used to direct care to COE hospitals. However, little is known about the relationship between these designations and treatment outcomes. To address this question, investigators used data from New York State's PCI reporting system to compare several outcomes between COE hospitals and non-COE hospitals, as designated by three private insurers (Aetna, Cigna, and Blue Cross Blue Shield).

Among the 62 included hospitals, the prop…

Reviewing Author

David J. Cohen, MD, MSc

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardMedtronic; Edwards Lifesciences; Abbott Vascular; Boston Scientific; St. Francis Hospital

Speaker’s BureauBoston Scientific; ZOLL Medical

Grant/Research SupportEdwards Lifesciences; Abbott Vascular; Boston Scientific; Corvia Medical; National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; Phillips, Inc.; St. Paul’s Hospital; V-Wave, Inc; ZOLL Medical; CathWorks, ANCORA

Editorial BoardsJACC; American Heart Journal; EuroIntervention; JSCAI; Structural Heart Journal

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesSociety of Thoracic Surgeons/American College of Cardiology TVT Registry (Co-Chair, Risk Model Development Committee); Cardiovascular Research Foundation (Co-Director, TCT Annual Meeting; Co-Director, New York Valves Annual Meeting)