Board Certification of Interventional Cardiologists

85.7% of Strong Memorial Hospital's interventional cardiologists are board certified in Interventional Cardiology by the American Board of Internal Medicine.

All new interventionalists are required to be board certified or if board eligible to take the exam at their earliest convenience. Our only interventionalist that is not board certified has been in practice more than 30 years and has performed thousands of PCI. He trained before an interventional fellowship was available. By current board certification rules, he cannot sit for the exam because he was not part of a fellowship.

A board-certified physician has completed an approved educational training program and an evaluation process including an examination designed to assess the knowledge, skills, and experience necessary to provide quality patient care in that specialty. A specialty certificate is issued by a medical specialty certifying board, which is valid nationwide. Although certification is not required for an individual physician to practice medicine, most hospitals and managed care organizations require that at least a certain percentage of their staff be "board certified" (American Board of Medical Specialties).

The American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines for percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) require that physicians performing PTCA should be board certified in Interventional Cardiology by the American Board of Internal Medicine (Circulation, June 19, 2001: 103(24); 3019-3041).