Bureaucracy preventing patients from accessing cardiovascular devices, Cardiovascular Round Table says

Patients are experiencing significant delays in accessing approved cardiovascular devices due to bureaucratic inefficiencies, a Devices White Paper from the Cardiovascular Round Table (CRT) has revealed. The White Paper said there was a clear correlation between declining death rates from cardiovascular disease and the introduction of innovative techniques and devices. However, the authors of the paper said that issues around reimbursement and the scaling back of R&D investment meant many people were not getting access – or experiencing delayed access – to the innovative devices. For example, under the diagnosis related group (DRG) system, cases are categorised into diagnosis groups.