New Cardiology Board Dispute Intensifies at Town Hall

CHICAGO — After an application to form a new ongoing certification board for cardiologists was rejected by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) in February, cardiology leaders held a town hall session here at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Scientific Session 2025 to hear what members think should be the next steps.

Just more than a year ago, five societies — the ACC, the American Heart Association, the Heart Failure Society of America, the Heart Rhythm Society, and the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions — submitted a formal application for a new board called the American Board of Cardiovascular Medicine, which would be governed by cardiologists and operated under the ABMS.

American Board of Cardiovascular Medicine President Jeffrey Kuvin, MD, chair of cardiology at Northwell Health in New York, asked town hall attendees for a show of hands on whether the new board should resubmit the application at the 2-year minimum window set by the ABMS, find another solution outside the ABMS, or stop pursuit of a new board. Almost all supported finding a solution outside ABMS.

“I’ve Never Seen the House of Cardiology So Aligned”

The ABMS rejection was “devastating” and unexpected, said ACC President Cathleen Biga, MSN, who is president and chief executive officer of Cardiovascular Management of Illinois. “I’ve been in this field a long time and I’ve never seen the House of Cardiology so aligned.”

In her conversations with members since the rejection, she said sentiment seems to lean toward finding a solution for certifying competency outside the ABMS or pursuing a conjoint board, which requires at least two parent sponsors.

The field of allergy and immunology has such an arrangement and “is the only board under ABMS that has two parents: the American Board of Internal Medicine [ABIM] and the American Board of Pediatrics [ABP],” Kuvin said. “There may be an opportunity for cardiology to do something like this. We need to find our two parents. The ABIM would likely be one of the two parents, perhaps ABP or thoracic surgery or another. That’s an avenue that we could evaluate.”

What’s clear “is that cardiology has become a distinct and different field, and so falling under internal medicine is where that rub is. We want our cardiologists to be certified in what they do every day,” Biga said.

“People Are Fed Up”

“People are fed up and they want alternatives,” Kuvin said. Some cardiologists are opting to go without recertification and waiting to see whether they will be challenged by hospital administrators.

“We would love to partner with the ABMS; that’s the easiest route with universal certification,” he said, “but we need a partner that’s going to work with us and recognize that cardiology is distinct from medicine.”

Certifying through the National Board of Physicians and Surgeons (NBPAS) is an option for cardiologists, but certification through NBPAS currently is not recognized by most hospitals, Edward T. Fry, MD, a cardiologist at Ascension St. Vincent in Carmel, Indiana, and past president of ACC, pointed out.

In the short term, conversations continue with ABIM, he noted.

“Over the last 10 years, we have tried to work directly with the ABIM to address the issues around burden, relevance, mechanics, and competency issues, and to date there’s been a lot of pushback,” Fry reported. “There’s new leadership at ABIM now, and maybe that will change; we’re certainly open to having those discussions.”

After the session, Kuvin said he was not surprised that the sentiment in the room was strongly against resubmitting the original application and strongly in favor of finding a solution outside the ABMS.

“I think people are fed up with the establishment,” he said. “I can’t tell you that we have a defined next move, but I can tell you that the status quo is not acceptable. We shouldn’t be shy about thinking about significant paradigm shifts, and I think this may be one of them.”

The American Board of Cardiovascular Medicine will convene Monday at the conference to look at options to present to the societies.

Kuvin, Biga, and Fry have reported no relevant financial relationships.