Influence of Major Adverse Events on Procedural Selection for Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: Insights From the Veterans Affairs Clinical Assessment Reporting and Tracking Program

Background: Public reporting of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) outcomes has been associated with risk-averse attitudes, and pressure to avoid negative outcomes may hinder the care of high-risk patients referred for PCI in public reporting environments. It is unknown whether the occurrence of PCI-related major adverse events (MAEs) influences future case selection in nonpublic reporting environments. Here, we describe trends in PCI case selection among patients undergoing coronary angiography following MAEs in Veterans Affairs (VA) cardiac catheterization laboratories participating in a mandatory internal quality improvement program without public reporting of outcomes.

Methods: Patients who underwent coronary angiography between October 1, 2010, and September 30, 2018, were identified and stratified by VA 30-day PCI mortality risk. The association between MAEs and changes in the proportion of patients proceeding from coronary angiography to PCI within 14 days was assessed.

Results: A total of 251,526 patients and 913 MAEs were included in the analysis. For each prespecified time period of 1, 2, and 4 weeks following an MAE, there were no significant changes in the proportion of patients undergoing coronary angiography who proceeded to PCI within 14 days for the overall cohort and for each tercile of VA 30-day PCI mortality risk.

Conclusions: There were no deviations from routine PCI referral practices following MAEs in this analysis of VA cardiac catheterization laboratories. Nonpublic reporting environments and quality improvement programs may be influential in mitigating PCI risk-aversion behaviors.