Bridging gaps in heart valve disease care: Opportunities for quality improvement

In January 2018, the Society of Cardiovascular and Angiography Interventions (SCAI) and Avalere Health ("Avalere") launched the development of the Heart Valve Initiative to advance the identification and management of patients with heart valve disease. To define the priority gap areas in identification and management of valve disease, a formal environmental scan was conducted to uncover current and planned initiatives that might inform the development of the initiative and bring to light stakeholder activities that seek to address the target patient population. This document summarizes the methodology and key findings from the scan, which will inform the development of interventions, research questions, and quality measure concepts to consider. Understanding that quality improvement initiatives and evidence in cardiovascular care may evolve rapidly, this synopsis represents a snapshot of information gathered from February 2018 to May 2019.