American College of Cardiology

Academic Institutions

174 ACGME-accredited cardiovascular disease fellowship training programs, many in collaboration with local private cardiology practices, provide the necessary training to produce the cardiovascular specialists that treat patients and conduct valuable research efforts. In the 2006-2007 academic year, these programs collectively had 2,427 ACGME-approved training positions. Unfortunately, 125 of those positions went unfilled, largely because the institutions lacked the funding to fill those slots with one of the many qualified applicants that were denied admission. In addition, as a result of workforce predictions of the early 1990s predicting a major surplus of specialist physicians, the number of first-year cardiology fellowship positions was reduced by 20% between 1994 and 1999; as of the 2006-2007 academic year, the number of cardiology fellows is still below 1994 levels (35th Bethesda Conference: Cardiology’s Workforce Crisis: A pragmatic approach).

How can we train more cardiovascular specialists?

Clearly, funding is a limiting factor in the number of cardiologists that can be trained. Some institutions have developed very successful collaborations with local private cardiology practices (called “participating institutions”) that agree to pay toward the funding of one or more fellowship positions in return for having a cardiology fellow complete a rotation in their practice. The specific arrangements must adhere to ACGME requirements. See below for the requirements, as well as two examples of contracts between training programs and a private practice.

Overview of Requirements for Participating Institutions

Contract Example 1
Contract Example 2

Coming soon…

• Results of workforce survey of adult cardiology academic programs

• Information on how expand an existing fellowship program or how to start a new one at your institution