The application for a new cardiology board is being presented to the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), and by the time this issue of the journal is out, we may know if it was successful. Why a new board? Who will run it? What will change? Before we get to those questions, let's look at why we have boards. Medicine is a profession that originally consisted of medicine, law, teaching, etc., but may now encompass many disciplines that require advanced training and some type of adjudication of competence. The idea is that those who have documented achievement of that competence and maintain it are recognized by the public as different from others who have not. When it comes to medical specialties and subspecialties, certification of that competence is offered by various boards. Currently, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) is the board that is responsible for granting certification for internal medicine and its subspecialties including cardiovascular medicine. The new board being applied for will be independent of the ABIM and perhaps will be called the American Board of Cardiovascular Medicine if it is approved. Who has the authority to approve medical boards? The only agency that is recognized to do that is ABMS, an arm of the American Medical Association (AMA). That is the organization that will decide if cardiovascular medicine and its subspecialties can break off from internal medicine and form their own boards.