Interventional cardiologists use the ShortCut device to split valve leaflets in patients who have been recommended for valve-in-valve TAVR and face a heightened coronary obstruction risk. Image courtesy of Pi-Cardia.
The new device was designed to help clinicians perform valve-in-valve TAVR on certain high-risk patients. One cardiologist familiar with the technology said it could be easily added to any preexisting TAVR workflow.
When policymakers eased rules and restrictions governing telemedicine in 2020, many patients and their doctors saw the change as one shiny silver lining in the very dark cloud that was the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately for them, that period has passed.
If private hospitals and clinics mimicked the staffing strategies of the Veterans Health Administration, the former would employ almost a million fewer nonclinical workers.