Physician certification in adult CHD newly created

THIS IS A MOMENTOUS ANNOUNCEMENT:

The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABS) announced the creation of physician certification in ACHD on December 5, 2012. The announcement of an ACHD subspecialty certification in the US nails ACHD down as an equal partner among other subspecialties. This decision is a landmark and a milestone in the young history of ACHD and transitions ACHD into a new era!

This announcement is available at http://www.cardiosource.org/News-Media/Publications/Cardiology-Magazine/...

This new ACHD subspecialty acknowledges efforts from multi-society stakeholders including ACC, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the International Society of Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ISACHD, www.isachd.org), the American Heart Association (AHA), the Adult Congenital Heart Association (ACHA; www.achaheart.org) and the Children’s Heart Foundation (CHF). These new and well-defined training requirements in ACHD for fellows with either an adult cardiology or pediatric cardiology background will have a global impact on fellowship programs to fulfill the requirements.

The creation of an ACHD subspecialty recognizes the increasing and unique needs of the rapidly growing population of adults with congenital heart disease by ensuring there are enough physicians with APPROPRIATE training to care for them in a consistent and comprehensive manner that is in compliance with published guidelines. There is still a long road to reach this goal.

The Working Group on Grown-Up Congenital Heart Disease (ESC-GUCH) is also preparing a document regarding organization of care and training in ACHD. The Canadian Adult Congenital Heart Disease Network (www.cachnet.ca) has also taken initial steps to write a Position Statement on Guidelines for Training and Maintenance of Competency in ACHD which will be jointly developed with the Canadian Cardiovascular Society (CCS). This Position Statement should culminate in an Area of Focused Competence (AFC) Diploma from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC): the Council of the RCPSC recently approved the AFC Diploma Program in 2011.

Please join me in congratulating the petition writing groups which consisted of internationally recognized and respected ACHD specialists , which were co-chaired by Dr. Michael Landzberg (Boston), Dr. Curt Daniels (Columbus), Dr. Thomas Graham. Please join me in congratulating the petition writing groups which consisted of internationally recognized and respected ACHD specialists, which were co-chaired by Dr. Michael Landzberg (Boston), Dr. Curt Daniels (Columbus), and Dr. Thomas Graham. I also acknowledge Dr. Gerard Martin (Washington), immediate past-chair of the Adult Congenital and Pediatric Cardiology Council of the American College of Cardiology who has been an amazingly effective leader and advocate for the whole process.

My best regards,

Erwin Oechslin,

President, CACH Network