Accreditation Information

Overall Goal: The Cardiac Arrhythmias Pathway equips learners with comprehensive knowledge and skills related to the diagnosis and management of cardiac arrhythmias and related conditions.

As a result of participating in the Cardiac Arrhythmias sessions, learners will have an improved or reinforced ability to:

1. Apply current evidence and guideline recommendations to the evaluation and management of patients with cardiac arrhythmias.
2. Evaluate contemporary strategies for atrial fibrillation, including rhythm and rate management, catheter ablation, left atrial appendage closure, and stroke prevention.
3. Identify different patient populations that may benefit from contemporary device-based therapies including physiological pacing.
4. Apply contemporary approaches to arrhythmia management in complex clinical populations, including patients with cancer, pregnancy, syncope, inherited arrhythmia syndromes, and competitive athletes.
5. Assess emerging approaches to arrhythmia care, including artificial intelligence, wearable technologies, novel monitoring strategies, and evolving procedural therapies.
6. Discuss strategies for professional development in electrophysiology, including approaches to fellowship training, mentorship, career planning, and development of procedural and research expertise.

Overall Goal: The Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Pathway aims to empower learners with the knowledge and skills to address the multifaceted aspects of cardiovascular health promotion and disease prevention, encompassing the latest evidence, emerging trends, and unique patient populations.

As a result of participating in the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention sessions, learners will have an improved or reinforced ability to:

1. Examine current evidence and controversies surrounding nutrition and dietary interventions for cardiovascular disease prevention.
2. Evaluate the evidence supporting emerging lipid-lowering therapies and their potential clinical applications.
3. Apply evidence-based approaches for return-to-play and occupational clearance in athletes and tactical professionals with cardiovascular conditions.
4. Describe evidence-based approaches to obesity management in the context of cardiorenal-metabolic disease, including pharmacologic and lifestyle interventions.
5. Identify existing and emerging approaches to lowering lipoprotein (a), including medications, as well as the significance of racial and ethnic differences in lipoprotein (a) levels.  
6. Differentiate contemporary strategies for improving hypertension control, including blood pressure measurement, treatment targets, medication adherence, and emerging therapies.
7. Compare opportunities and limitations of artificial intelligence and digital health technologies in cardiovascular prevention and care.
8. Assess the unique female-specific risk factors for cardiovascular disease across a woman's lifespan related to hemodynamic changes of pregnancy, risk assessment, and imaging safety.
9. Describe innovative models for expanding cardiovascular prevention and care across underserved and resource-limited populations.
10. Discuss cardiovascular prevention considerations for patients receiving gender-affirming hormone therapy.
11. Differentiate the unique challenges in the diagnosis and management of hypertension in special populations such as women, older adults, racial/ethnic minorities, and young adults.

Overall Goal: The Congenital Heart Disease Pathway strengthens learners' ability to provide evidence-based, multidisciplinary, and patient-centered care for individuals with congenital heart disease across the lifespan, with emphasis on complex decision-making, continuity of care, and long-term outcomes.

As a result of participating in the Congenital Heart Disease sessions, learners will have an improved or reinforced ability to:

1. Apply contemporary evidence and guideline recommendations to the evaluation, surveillance, and management of congenital heart disease across the lifespan.
2. Integrate anatomic complexity, physiologic status, multimodality imaging, hemodynamic assessment, and functional testing to guide clinical decision-making and referral.
3. Develop individualized management plans for high-risk clinical scenarios, including pregnancy, arrhythmias, anticoagulation, heart failure, aortopathy, and noncardiac surgery.
4. Evaluate surgical, transcatheter, electrophysiologic, and advanced heart failure treatment options for patients with complex congenital anatomy and prior repairs.
5. Implement multidisciplinary transition, shared-care, and referral strategies that maintain continuity between pediatric and adult congenital heart disease services.
6. Incorporate psychological, neurocognitive, social, and equity-related considerations into longitudinal congenital heart disease care and shared decision-making.
7. Formulate surveillance and management strategies for Fontan circulation and other complex congenital pathways, including multisystem complications and end-organ dysfunction.
8. Design patient-centered approaches to advanced illness, palliative care, and end-of-life decision-making for individuals with congenital heart disease.

Overall Goal: The Coronary, Peripheral and Structural Interventions Pathway enhances learners' ability to select, perform, and coordinate evidence-based interventions for coronary, peripheral vascular, and structural heart disease while improving procedural safety, patient selection, and equitable outcomes.

As a result of participating in the Coronary, Peripheral and Structural Interventions sessions, learners will have an improved or reinforced ability to:

1. Apply current clinical evidence, guidelines, and appropriate use criteria to select medical, percutaneous, surgical, or hybrid treatment strategies for coronary, peripheral, and structural heart disease.
2. Interpret invasive physiology, intracoronary imaging, multimodality imaging, and anatomic findings to guide procedural selection and optimize interventional outcomes.
3. Develop individualized antithrombotic and postprocedural management strategies based on ischemic risk, bleeding risk, procedural characteristics, and comorbid conditions.
4. Evaluate emerging technologies and techniques, including drug-coated balloons, intravascular lithotripsy, mechanical thrombectomy, renal denervation, transcatheter valve therapies, and left atrial appendage occlusion.
5. Select evidence-based revascularization and referral strategies for patients with acute coronary syndromes, complex coronary anatomy, cardiogenic shock, peripheral artery disease, and structural heart disease.
6. Implement procedural safety and quality strategies addressing radiation exposure, vascular access, large-bore closure, complication prevention, and post-procedural surveillance.
7. Collaborate within Heart Teams, shock teams, and multidisciplinary structural programs to incorporate patient goals, clinical evidence, anatomy, physiology, and expected outcomes into shared decision-making.
8. Identify patient-, clinician-, and system-level barriers that contribute to inequitable access to interventional care and apply strategies to improve referral, treatment, and follow-up.

Overall Goal: The Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathies Pathway equips learners with comprehensive knowledge and skills related to the diagnosis, evaluation, and management of heart failure and cardiomyopathies across a wide spectrum of patients.

As a result of participating in the Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathies sessions, learners will have an improved or reinforced ability to:

1. Formulate evidence-based care plans across the spectrum of heart failure phenotypes, applying current guidelines and consensus recommendations for diagnosis, evaluation, and management.
2. Analyze the evidence on traditional and contemporary pharmacotherapies, monitoring, and therapeutic devices, to prioritize treatment in heart failure management.
3. Evaluate special considerations of heart failure care including cardio-oncology, cardio-obstetrics, cardiometabolic considerations, and cardiac amyloidosis and integrate these populations into general heart failure management.
4. Identify advanced heart failure treatment options including considerations for cardiac transplant and left ventricular assist device, with attention to patient selection and management.
5. Apply contemporary diagnostic and phenotyping strategies to heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and use pharmacologic and comorbidity-driven approaches to individualize guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) across the ejection fraction spectrum.
6. Examine the emerging innovative technologies including machine learning and artificial intelligence to improve the diagnosis and management of heart failure.
7. Discuss strategies to eliminate barriers to equitable care across the spectrum of heart failure from prevention to advanced therapies.
8. Identify emerging trends and critical issues for the management of cardiogenic shock.
9. Apply contemporary genetic testing, multimodality imaging, and phenotype-guided treatment sequencing to the diagnosis and management of hypertrophic and other genetic cardiomyopathies.

Overall Goal: The Ischemic Heart Diseases Pathway enables learners with the knowledge and skills needed to address the diverse aspects of ischemic heart disease, from diagnosis and risk assessment to advanced treatment options and holistic patient care.

As a result of participating in the Ischemic Heart Disease sessions, learners will have an improved or reinforced ability to:

1. Demonstrate comprehensive, evidence-based care in the evaluation and management of ischemic heart disease.
2. Assess the advantages and limitations of various imaging modalities in guiding diagnostic and revascularization decisions for ischemic heart disease patients.
3. Debate the evidence for biomarker- and ischemic-testing-based preoperative risk assessment strategies, and evaluate the role of postoperative myocardial injury monitoring in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery.
4. Discuss advanced guideline directed strategies for revascularization in complex coronary artery disease, including left main/multivessel disease, physiology-guided management of intermediate lesions, and antithrombotic therapy in post-PCI patients.
5. Analyze the geographical variation for management of ischemic heart disease including survival rates for out of hospital cardiac arrest and identify potential solutions in reducing variations in management where appropriate.
6. Outline cardiovascular disease in women across their lifespan, from pregnancy through midlife and into older adulthood, including factors unique to women including pregnancy and perimenopausal changes which can impact cardiovascular disease.
7. Integrate imaging modalities and risk stratification techniques in the evaluation of ANOCA/INOCA/MINOCA, athletes with coronary artery disease, and other complex or atypical presentations of ischemic heart disease.
8. Explain the collaborative roles of multidisciplinary teams in the post-STEMI (ST-elevation myocardial infarction) care, particularly in cardiogenic shock, and the importance of team-based approaches.
9. Identify existing and emerging treatment options for patients with refractory angina.

Overall Goal: The Multimodal Imaging Pathway enhances learners' ability to select, interpret, and integrate cardiovascular imaging modalities to answer clinical questions, guide treatment, and improve the quality, safety, and equity of cardiovascular care.

As a result of participating in the Multimodal Imaging sessions, learners will have an improved or reinforced ability to:

1. Select the most appropriate cardiovascular imaging modality based on the clinical question, patient characteristics, guideline recommendations, and appropriate use criteria.
2. Integrate findings from echocardiography, cardiac CT, CMR, nuclear imaging, and invasive assessment to guide diagnosis, risk stratification, treatment selection, and follow-up.
3. Interpret multimodality imaging findings in coronary artery disease, structural and valvular heart disease, cardiomyopathies, right heart disease, and pulmonary vascular disease.
4. Apply advanced imaging techniques to procedural planning, intraprocedural guidance, complication detection, and postprocedural surveillance for structural heart interventions.
5. Evaluate artificial intelligence and other emerging imaging technologies for clinical validity, bias, workflow integration, diagnostic performance, and appropriate clinical use.
6. Implement structured reporting, quality metrics, radiation-safety practices, and standardized imaging pathways to reduce variability and unnecessary layered testing.
7. Adapt imaging selection and interpretation for special populations, including women, athletes, individuals with congenital heart disease, pregnant patients, and patients with systemic inflammatory disease or cardiac amyloidosis.
8. Collaborate with multidisciplinary cardiovascular care teams to translate imaging findings into patient-centered diagnostic and treatment decisions.

Overall Goal: The Pulmonary Vascular Disease Pathway strengthens learners' ability to diagnose, phenotype, risk-stratify, and manage pulmonary vascular disease through physiology-based, multidisciplinary, patient-centered, and evidence-informed care.

As a result of participating in the Pulmonary Vascular Disease sessions, learners will have an improved or reinforced ability to:

1. Apply a systematic diagnostic approach to differentiate pulmonary hypertension phenotypes using clinical findings, multimodality imaging, hemodynamics, functional assessment, and laboratory data.
2. Interpret right-heart imaging, invasive hemodynamics, and risk-stratification findings to determine disease severity, prognosis, and appropriate treatment escalation.
3. Develop individualized, physiology-based management plans for pulmonary arterial hypertension that incorporate current evidence, patient characteristics, treatment response, and access considerations.
4. Evaluate patients with pulmonary embolism for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension and determine appropriate referral for medical therapy, balloon pulmonary angioplasty, or pulmonary endarterectomy.
5. Adjust pharmacologic treatment strategies based on disease phenotype, treatment goals, therapeutic response, adverse effects, and changing clinical risk.
6. Integrate longitudinal monitoring, patient-generated data, and emerging diagnostic technologies into follow-up and reassessment of pulmonary vascular disease.
7. Collaborate with multidisciplinary pulmonary hypertension and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension teams to manage complex clinical scenarios and treatment complications.
8. Assess the clinical utility and limitations of genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and other precision-medicine approaches in pulmonary hypertension care.

Overall Goal: The Valvular Diseases Pathway aims to enhance learners' expertise in the diagnosis and management of valvular heart disease, while promoting collaboration within interdisciplinary teams and aligning practice with the latest guidelines and research findings.

As a result of participating in the Valvular Diseases sessions, learners will have an improved or reinforced ability to:

1. Develop a strategic plan for building and collaborating with an interdisciplinary team to manage high-acuity valvular heart disease.
2. Apply guideline-based and emerging strategies for aortic stenosis.
3. Compare and contrast emerging and established technologies for mitral valve repair and replacement in patients requiring lifetime valve management.
4. Apply current guidelines and recommend best practices for valvular care in clinical practice.
5. Discuss effective patient education and shared decision-making strategies when managing complex cases of valvular heart disease.
6. Identify reversible contributors and differentiate primary, secondary, and CIED lead–associated tricuspid regurgitation to guide individualized management, including repair versus replacement decisions.
7. Construct a management plan for highly symptomatic patients with severe tricuspid valve disease and right-sided heart failure.
8. Translate emerging research into practice for current valvular heart disease management guidelines.
9. Evaluate candidacy and treatment strategy for patients with mitral regurgitation not amenable to transcatheter edge-to-edge repair, including transcatheter mitral valve replacement options.
10. Discuss timing of surgical referral and intervention in patients with chronic aortic regurgitation, including those with concomitant aortic dilation.

Overall Goal: The Vascular Diseases Pathway provides participants with an update on emerging evidence, evolving practice models, and contemporary management strategies across the spectrum of vascular disease, including aortic disease, pulmonary embolism, PAD-CLTI, and vascular care delivery. Attendees will be equipped to apply evidence-based, multidisciplinary approaches that optimize patient outcomes, enhance quality of care, and advance equitable delivery of vascular services.

As a result of participating in the Vascular Diseases sessions, learners will have an improved or reinforced ability to:

1. Assess advances in aortic disease, pulmonary embolism, and PAD-CLTI.
2. Apply evidence-based strategies across the vascular care continuum.
3. Implement guideline-directed medical therapy to improve cardiovascular and limb outcomes.
4. Evaluate quality, safety, and patient selection in OBL and ASC settings.
5. Integrate multidisciplinary approaches to vascular diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up.
6. Translate emerging evidence and technologies into practical clinical applications.
7. Identify strategies to improve access, equity, and vascular outcomes.

Overall Goal: The Special Topics sessions provide participants with innovative educational experiences that explore emerging science, clinical practice updates, healthcare policy, prevention, technology, professional development, and global cardiovascular health. Through a diverse portfolio of Scientific Sessions, Intensives, Heart2Heart discussions, Keynotes, Interactive Programs, and Original Research presentations, learners will engage with contemporary evidence, expert perspectives, and practical insights relevant to cardiovascular care. These varied formats are designed to foster knowledge acquisition, audience engagement, and meaningful application of new concepts to clinical practice, healthcare delivery, and professional growth.

As a result of participating in the Special Topics sessions, learners will have an improved or reinforced ability to:

1. Summarize emerging research in global cardiovascular health.
2. Apply key recommendations from CKM and hypertension guidelines to patient care.
3. Apply guideline-based approaches to primary prevention and lipid management.
4. Summarize major clinical studies and their relevance to cardiovascular practice.
5. Describe emerging concepts influencing the future of cardiovascular medicine.
6. Recognize contributors to residual cardiovascular risk in patients with ASCVD.
7. Describe emerging developments in the diagnosis and management of pulmonary hypertension.