Multisociety (AATS, ACCF, SCAI, and STS) expert consensus statement: operator and institutional requirements for transcatheter valve repair and replacement, part 1: transcatheter aortic valve replacement

PREAMBLE The granting of staff privileges to physicians is an important mechanism to ensure quality care. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations requires that medical staff privileges be based on professional criteria specified in medical staff bylaws. Physicians are charged with defining the criteria that constitute professional competence and with evaluating their peers accordingly. With the evolution of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), an important opportunity arises for both cardiologists and surgeons to come together to identify the criteria for performing these procedures. The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS), American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF), and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) have, therefore, joined together to provide recommendations for institutions to assess their potential for instituting and/or maintaining a transcatheter valve program. This article concerns TAVR. As TAVR is in its infancy, there are few data on which to base this consensus statement. Therefore, many of these recommendations are based on expert consensus. As the procedures