Advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology: a subspecialty is born.

Recently, the American Board of Medical Specialties approved a proposal from the American Board of Internal Medicine for establishing the secondary subspecialty of Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology. This step represents culmination of a process that began 4 years ago, through advocacy by the Heart Failure Society of America. It represents an essential step to ensure quality of care by specialists in a field that has grown up de facto amid rapid expansion both of the population of patients with heart failure and of diagnostic and therapeutic options for their management. The vast majority of care for most patients with heart failure will continue to be provided by general internists and cardiologists. Certification in Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiology will require a high degree of competency in all aspects of heart failure care, including technical proficiencies required to manage patients undergoing heart transplant and device implants. These specialists will play a key role in delivering the highest quality of complex care in the most cost-effective manner. In the years to come, the specialty must adapt to the ongoing rapid expansion of evidence-based knowledge in this field to continue to provide the highest level of care and the best outcomes to patients with heart failure.