The Annual Meeting will bring together cardiothoracic professionals and allied health personnel from around the world for a three and a half day program of state-of-the-art presentations by renowned experts. Attendees will enhance their knowledge and skills in a wide range of subjects including thoracic surgery, adult cardiac surgery, congenital heart disease, and perioperative care. The activity provides a forum for presenting diagnostic techniques, surgical procedures, emerging technologies, and other interventions for improved patient care.
Physicians must remain active in acquiring new medical knowledge to integrate into their practice and provide high quality clinical care. Recent advances in basic and clinical science, as well as new and emerging technologies must be incorporated to improve health care outcomes and patient satisfaction across the spectrum of cardiothoracic surgery. The AATS Annual Meeting helps fill this knowledge gap via presentation of scientific abstracts, invited lectures, and multidisciplinary sessions.
ACCME Accreditation Statement
The American Association for Thoracic Surgery is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
AMA Credit Designation Statement
The American Association for Thoracic Surgery designates this live activity for AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Desired Learning Outcomes
At the end of this activity, participants will be able to:
- Identify the latest techniques and current research specifically related to adult cardiac surgery, congenital heart disease, thoracic surgery, and perioperative care;
- Select appropriate surgical procedures and other interventions for their own patients based upon results presented;
- Incorporate the basic science developments and emerging technologies and techniques across the spectrum of cardiothoracic surgery;
- Communicate current practice management necessary for the effective and safe delivery of patient care;
- Translate expanded knowledge into practice for the improvement of patient outcomes and satisfaction.

Successful completion of this CME activity enables the learner to earn credit toward the CME requirement of the American Board of Surgery’s Continuous Certification program. It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit learner completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting ABS credit.
**American Board of Surgery Update**
In February 2023, The American Board of Surgery (ABS) announced that, as of July 1, 2023, all CME will be automatically transferred to the ABS through the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME®) PARS system. This is part of their ongoing commitment to reduce the administrative burden on diplomates and enhance the value of the ABS Continuous Certification Program. As part of this improvement, the manual reporting feature (the ability to individually input CME information) in the ABS portal will no longer be necessary and is now retired. Another change in process is the AATS must report the CME you claim for activities within 30 days.
More information, including the original press release from ABS may be found here.