• Fenton H McCarthy, Danielle C Savino, Chase R Brown, Joseph E Bavaria, Vinay Kini, Danielle D Spragan, Taylor R Dibble, Howard C Herrmann, Saif Anwaruddin, Jay Giri, Wilson Y Szeto, Peter W Groeneveld, and Nimesh D Desai.
• Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa; Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. Electronic address: Fenton.McCarthy@uphs.upenn.edu.
• J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 2017 Dec 1; 154 (6): 1872-1880.e1.

ObjectiveTo compare the cost of and payments for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), a novel and expensive technology, and surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR).MethodsMedicare claims provided hospital charges, payments, and outcomes between January and December 2012. Hospital costs and charges were estimated using hospital-specific cost-to-charge ratios. Costs and payments were examined in propensity score- matched TAVR and SAVR patients.ResultsMedicare spent $215,770,200 nationally on 4083 patients who underwent TAVR in 2012. Hospital costs were higher for TAVR patients (median, $50,200; interquartile range [IQR], $39,800-$64,300) than for propensity-matched SAVR patients ($45,500; IQR, $34,500-$63,300; P < .01), owing largely to higher estimated medical supply costs, including the implanted valve prosthesis. Postprocedure hospital length of stay (LOS) length was shorter for TAVR patients (median, 5 days [IQR, 4-8 days] vs 7 days [IQR, 5-9 days]; P < .01), as was total intensive care unit (ICU) LOS (median, 2 days [IQR, 0-5 days] vs 3 days [IQR, 1-6 days]; P < .01). Medicare payments were lower for TAVR hospitalizations (median, $49,500; IQR, $36,900-$64,600) than for SAVR (median, $50,400; IQR, $37,400-$65,800; P < .01). The median of the differences between payments and costs (contribution margin) was -$3380 for TAVR hospitalizations and $2390 for SAVR hospitalizations (P < .01).ConclusionsTAVR accounted for $215 million in Medicare payments in its first year of clinical use. Among SAVR Medicare patients at a similar risk level, TAVR was associated with higher hospital costs despite shorter ICU LOS and hospital LOS. Overall and/or medical device cost reductions are needed for TAVR to have a net neutral financial impact on hospitals.Copyright © 2017 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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