Adult Congenital Cardiac Care

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Cardiac Surgery
• Public Health

Background:

• The Adult Congenital Heart Association (ACHA) supports patients with congenital heart disease.
• ACHA maintains a directory of adult congenital cardiac programs to guide patient referrals.
• Analysis of the ACHA directory in 2006 and 2015 evaluated program growth.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the growth of the ACHA directory and its listed programs.
• To assess the expansion of services and clinical volume in adult congenital cardiology.
• To raise awareness of opportunities in adult congenital cardiology and cardiac surgery.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of self-reported data from the ACHA directory.
• Inclusion of data only from US-based programs.
• Comparative analysis of directory data from 2006 and 2015.

Main Results:

• The number of programs increased from 57 to 107 across 33 to 42 states.
• Clinical volume more than doubled, with patient visits rising from 34,446 to 96,611.
• Annual operations nearly doubled, performed by an increased number of surgeons, with expanded ancillary services.

Conclusions:

• Significant growth in both the ACHA directory and individual adult congenital cardiac programs occurred between 2006 and 2015.
• Directory data can establish benchmarks for new and existing programs regarding staffing and services.
• Future efforts should focus on verifying data accuracy and ensuring comprehensive program inclusion.