- What CHS Actually Means
- Who Administers CHS and Why the Name Confuses People
- The Two-Part Structure Behind the Name
- What "Congenital Cardiac Surgery" Covers: 11 Categories
- Who the CHS Credential Is Actually For
- Fee Mechanics Behind the Credential
- Administration Windows and Locations
- Reading the Available Pass Data
- CHS Doesn't Stop at Certification
- Why the Meaning Matters for Your Career
- Turning the Meaning Into a Study Plan
- FAQ
- CHS here means the ABTS Congenital Cardiac Surgery subspecialty certification, not any other CHS credential.
- Certification requires passing a written Part I before attempting the in-person oral Part II.
- Total initial fees are $4,900, split across application, written, and oral exam charges.
- Eleven unweighted content categories, from septal defects to acquired cardiovascular disease, define exam scope.
What CHS Actually Means
Type "CHS" into a search bar and you'll get a pile of unrelated results - health services credentials, hospitality certifications, even school district acronyms. On this site, CHS means one specific thing: Certification in Congenital Cardiac Surgery, issued by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery (ABTS) as a subspecialty certification. ABTS itself labels this pathway "Congenital Heart Surgery (CHS)" on its official site, and the two phrasings - Congenital Cardiac Surgery and Congenital Heart Surgery - refer to the exact same credential.
This is not a general cardiology certification, and it is not one of the other well-known credentials that happen to share the same three letters. It is a surgical subspecialty certification sitting on top of an existing primary ABTS certification, meaning the candidate is already a board-certified thoracic surgeon before they ever apply. If you want the fuller picture of what the letters represent day-to-day, the companion piece What Is CHS? walks through the credential from the ground up, and What Does CHS Stand For? covers the naming question in more depth.
Who Administers CHS and Why the Name Confuses People
The American Board of Thoracic Surgery administers CHS as part of its congenital subspecialty pathway. ABTS publishes the current administration details, eligibility rules, and exam dates directly on its website, and those live pages - not third-party summaries - govern the actual administration a candidate will sit for. The content categories referenced throughout this article and elsewhere on this site trace back to the ABTS 2025 Booklet of Information, which lists the Part I written topics candidates are expected to know.
The confusion around the acronym exists because "CHS" is a common three-letter combination used across healthcare credentialing, education, and hospitality industries. None of those other meanings apply here. For a plain-language explainer aimed at someone hearing the term for the first time, see What Does CHS Mean? and What Is A CHS?.
The Two-Part Structure Behind the Name
Understanding what CHS means also requires understanding its shape. The credential is earned in two sequential stages:
- Part I - Written Examination: A multiple-choice exam administered at Pearson Professional Testing Centers. Beginning in 2025, written questions use three answer options rather than a longer list of distractors, which changes how elimination-based test strategies work.
- Part II - Oral Examination: An in-person case-based oral exam that a candidate may only attempt after passing Part I. It evaluates clinical judgment and operative decision-making rather than pure recall.
This article focuses on the meaning and initial certification pathway - the written Part I and its complementary oral Part II preparation - not the separate continuing-certification assessment that certified surgeons complete on an ongoing basis later.
Key Takeaway
You cannot sit for the oral Part II until you've passed the written Part I. Sequence your preparation accordingly, and don't split attention evenly between both stages until the written exam is behind you.
What "Congenital Cardiac Surgery" Covers: 11 Categories
The word "congenital" in the credential's name isn't decorative - it defines the entire scope of the written exam. ABTS's Part I content is organized into eleven categories, treated as unweighted coverage areas rather than a scored breakdown:
Domain 1: Septal Defects
Atrial and ventricular septal defect anatomy, repair techniques, and associated complications.
Domain 2: Anomalies of Venous Connection
Systemic and pulmonary venous return anomalies and their surgical correction.
Domain 3: Anomalies of the Aorta, Aortic Arch, and Coronary Arteries
Coarctation, arch anomalies, and coronary anomaly management in congenital patients.
Domain 4: Anomalies of the Tricuspid and Mitral Valves
Atrioventricular valve pathology distinct from the AV connection anomalies in Domain 8.
Domain 5: Anomalies of the Aortic Valve and Left Ventricular Outflow Tract
LVOT obstruction, aortic valve disease, and related reconstructive strategies.
Domain 6: Anomalies of the Pulmonary Valve and Right Ventricular Outflow Tract
RVOT obstruction and pulmonary valve pathology across age groups.
Domain 7: Conotruncal Anomalies
Tetralogy of Fallot, truncus arteriosus, and transposition-spectrum lesions.
Domain 8: Anomalies of Atrioventricular Connection, Univentricular Heart, and Atrial/Visceral Situs
AV canal defects, single-ventricle physiology, and situs abnormalities.
Domain 9: Diseases of the Myocardium
Cardiomyopathies and myocardial disease processes in pediatric and congenital patients.
Domain 10: Pre-, Intra-, and Post-Operative Evaluation and Management
Perioperative decision-making spanning the full surgical episode of care.
Domain 11: Acquired Cardiovascular Diseases in Infants and Children
Non-congenital cardiovascular disease that still falls within pediatric surgical practice.
Because these categories are unweighted, no single domain should be skipped in favor of another. A full walkthrough of how to sequence study across all eleven areas is available in CHS Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 11 Content Areas.
Who the CHS Credential Is Actually For
The name "Certification in Congenital Cardiac Surgery" implies a narrow, senior audience, and the eligibility rules confirm it. Candidates need:
- Current primary ABTS certification already in hand
- Unrestricted medical licensure
- Qualifying thoracic and congenital cardiac surgery training
- Verified operative experience
- Formal endorsement from their training program
Fellows who began training on or after July 1, 2023 face specific numeric thresholds: two consecutive years in a single ACGME-accredited program, and at least 150 major congenital cases overall, with a minimum of 50 completed in the first year alone. These are not optional targets - they're structural prerequisites tied directly to the training timeline. The full eligibility breakdown, including how these thresholds interact with older training cohorts, is covered in CHS Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
Fee Mechanics Behind the Credential
Part of understanding what CHS means is understanding what it costs to pursue. Initial certification fees total $4,900, broken into three distinct charges:
| Fee Component | Amount |
|---|---|
| Application Fee | $650 |
| Written Examination (Part I) | $1,750 |
| Oral Examination (Part II) | $2,500 |
| Total Initial Fees | $4,900 |
These figures don't include travel to the oral exam site or any preparation resources a candidate purchases separately. A more detailed cost breakdown, including how the fee structure compares across the certification lifecycle, is available in CHS Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
Administration Windows and Locations
Administration follows a fixed annual cadence set by ABTS. The written Part I is delivered at Pearson Professional Testing Centers, giving candidates flexibility on testing location within that network. The 2026 written window runs December 7-11, 2026, with the corresponding oral examination scheduled for June 4-5, 2027 in Dallas - a roughly six-month gap between written success and the oral sitting.
That gap matters for planning: candidates shouldn't treat oral preparation as an afterthought squeezed into the weeks before Dallas. A full calendar view of registration deadlines and administration logistics is in CHS Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
Reading the Available Pass Data
ABTS reported 7 passes among 8 written examinees and 4 passes among 4 oral examinees in 2025. These numbers reflect genuinely small cohorts - CHS is a narrow subspecialty certification with a limited pool of eligible candidates each cycle - so treat any single-year figure as directional rather than predictive. A broader look at what these small-sample statistics can and can't tell you is available in CHS Pass Rate 2026: What the Data Shows, and a candid assessment of exam difficulty given the format change to three-option written questions is in How Hard Is the CHS Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026.
CHS Doesn't Stop at Certification
The meaning of CHS extends beyond the initial written-and-oral sequence. Since January 2024, ABTS continuing certification uses non-time-limited certificates, conditional on meeting five-year milestones rather than retaking a full recertification exam on a fixed clock. Existing time-limited certificates transition at their natural expiration.
Ongoing requirements include unrestricted licensure, hospital privileges, professional references, 150 Category 1 CME credits per five-year period (at least 75 specifically related to thoracic surgery), qualifying congenital case activity, an online continuing-certification assessment, and patient-safety/improvement components. In other words, "certified" is a maintained status, not a one-time event.
Why the Meaning Matters for Your Career
Knowing precisely what CHS stands for isn't just semantic housekeeping - it shapes how the credential is read by hiring committees, referring physicians, and credentialing bodies. Because the certification sits on top of primary ABTS thoracic surgery certification and requires verified congenital operative volume, it signals a distinct, narrow scope of practice: complex congenital heart repair rather than general adult cardiac or thoracic surgery.
That distinction matters when candidates evaluate their own trajectory. If you're weighing whether the credential's requirements, cost, and maintenance obligations justify pursuit, Is the CHS Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 lays out the considerations without inventing numbers that aren't part of the public record. For career-side context - how the credential factors into hiring and compensation conversations - see CHS Salary Guide 2026: Complete Earnings Analysis and CHS Jobs. If you're earlier in the pipeline and mapping out training steps, CHS Training covers the fellowship-level prerequisites in more detail.
Turning the Meaning Into a Study Plan
Once the scope is clear - eleven congenital-specific content categories, a written exam followed by an oral exam, and a fixed annual administration cycle - the study plan follows naturally. Rather than generic weekly templates, anchor blocks of preparation time to specific domains where case volume tends to be lower in everyday practice, such as Domain 9 (Diseases of the Myocardium) or Domain 2 (Anomalies of Venous Connection), since these are easier to under-prepare relative to high-volume domains like Domain 7 (Conotruncal Anomalies).
Foundational Domains
- Septal defects, venous anomalies, and AV valve pathology (Domains 1, 2, 4)
High-Complexity Domains
- Conotruncal anomalies, univentricular heart, and outflow tract lesions (Domains 5, 6, 7, 8)
Perioperative and Acquired Disease
- Myocardial disease, perioperative management, and acquired cardiovascular disease (Domains 9, 10, 11)
For a structured walkthrough tailored specifically to the written Part I format and its three-option multiple-choice style, see CHS Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt. If you want a condensed reference for last-pass review before exam day, CHS Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts compiles the must-know facts in one place, and CHS Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass clarifies what "passing" actually requires. You can also build timed familiarity with the exam's multiple-choice format using practice questions on CHS Exam Prep before your Pearson testing date.
FAQ
Yes. ABTS uses "Congenital Heart Surgery (CHS)" and "Certification in Congenital Cardiac Surgery" to refer to the identical credential; the phrasing differs but the certification is the same.
It requires current primary ABTS certification before a candidate is eligible to apply. CHS is a subspecialty certification layered on top of general thoracic surgery board certification, not a standalone entry point.
No. Written success on Part I is required before a candidate can attempt the in-person Part II oral examination.
Fellows starting on or after July 1, 2023 must complete two consecutive years in one ACGME-accredited program and log at least 150 major congenital cases, with a minimum of 50 in the first year, so training timing directly affects eligibility.
They reproduce the Part I topics listed in the ABTS 2025 Booklet of Information and are treated as unweighted coverage areas rather than a percentage-scored breakdown.