- Cardiac surgeons are ABTS-board-certified specialists who perform bypass, valve, aortic, and heart failure surgery; you usually reach one through a cardiologist's referral.
- Heart surgery is unusually data-rich: use the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) star ratings and CMS Care Compare alongside your cardiologist's recommendation.
- Volume matters — higher-volume surgeons and programs consistently report better outcomes for complex procedures, so ask about case numbers.
- A second opinion before non-emergency heart surgery is reasonable and welcomed, especially for valve-repair-vs-replacement and bypass-vs-stent decisions.
- Verify ABTS "Thoracic Surgery" certification and confirm the hospital participates in the STS national database.
- Sudden severe chest or back pain, fainting, or shortness of breath at rest is a 911 emergency — do not wait for a surgery appointment.
If you are searching for a cardiac surgeon near me, the path usually started with a cardiologist’s recommendation: severe coronary artery disease that needs bypass, a leaking or stenotic heart valve, an ascending aortic aneurysm, atrial fibrillation surgery, or a congenital heart defect found in adulthood. Heart surgery is one of the most outcomes-data-rich specialties in American medicine. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) maintains public hospital quality ratings, and board certification through the American Board of Thoracic Surgery is the recognized credential. Knowing how to read both, and what insurance covers, will help you and your cardiologist make a confident referral choice.
Choose a cardiac surgeon with your cardiologist’s input, verified ABTS board certification, published STS star ratings, and adequate program volume. For elective surgery, a second opinion is almost always worth the short delay. This article is general education, not medical advice, and outcome data and cost figures change over time — verify current ratings and prices directly. If you are having heart-attack or aortic-emergency symptoms right now, this is not the article to act on: call 911.
What a Cardiac Surgeon Is and What They Do
Cardiac surgeons are physicians who completed either an integrated six-year cardiothoracic surgery residency or a five-year general surgery residency followed by a two- to three-year cardiothoracic fellowship. They are board certified by the American Board of Thoracic Surgery (ABTS), an ABMS member board. Many also hold additional ABMS credentials in surgery from prior training.
Cardiac surgeons perform coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), heart valve repair and replacement (aortic, mitral, tricuspid, pulmonary), aortic aneurysm and dissection repair, atrial fibrillation surgery (the Maze procedure), pericardial procedures, surgical management of heart failure, ventricular assist device (VAD) implantation, heart transplantation, and adult congenital heart surgery. Many cardiac surgery programs also collaborate closely with interventional cardiology on transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), transcatheter mitral repair, and other structural heart procedures.
When to See a Cardiac Surgeon
Patients are almost always referred by a cardiologist after testing identifies a problem amenable to surgery. Common reasons include multivessel coronary artery disease where bypass surgery has better outcomes than stents (especially in people with diabetes), severe aortic stenosis or regurgitation, severe mitral regurgitation, an ascending aortic aneurysm at or above roughly 5.0 to 5.5 cm, atrial fibrillation refractory to other treatments, advanced heart failure being considered for a VAD or transplant, and complex congenital heart disease. Patients with peripheral vascular disease undergoing major surgery often have parallel evaluation with a vascular surgeon.
A second-opinion consultation before any non-emergent heart surgery is reasonable and welcomed by most surgeons. The decision between bypass and percutaneous coronary intervention, valve repair versus replacement, or transcatheter versus open valve surgery often involves judgment that benefits from more than one specialist’s view.
How to Find a Cardiac Surgeon Near You
The Society of Thoracic Surgeons directory at sts.org lists STS-member cardiac surgeons. The STS Public Reporting program publishes hospital- and, in some cases, surgeon-level quality ratings (one to three stars) for CABG, aortic valve replacement, and combined procedures. Using the STS rating alongside your cardiologist’s recommendation is one of the better signals available in any surgical specialty.
For specialized procedures, look at program volume. Heart transplant programs, mechanical circulatory support, complex aortic surgery, and adult congenital heart surgery are largely concentrated at academic medical centers and large heart-and-vascular institutes. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Care Compare tool also publishes hospital-level quality measures that can inform your choice. When you have candidates, it is fair to ask each program directly how many of your specific procedure they perform per year and what their outcomes look like.
How to Verify Credentials
Verify ABTS board certification at certificationmatters.org or directly at abts.org; the result should show “Thoracic Surgery” certification. Confirm the hospital’s participation in the STS Adult Cardiac Surgery Database and its rating — programs that participate are voluntarily reporting their outcomes against national benchmarks. State medical license verification is available through your state medical board, where you can also check for disciplinary actions.
Volume matters in heart surgery. Published studies have generally found that surgeons and hospitals performing higher annual case volumes tend to have lower mortality and complication rates, particularly for complex procedures. Three-star STS ratings, higher-volume programs, and academic medical centers consistently perform well for the most demanding operations. Volume is a useful signal, not a guarantee — read it together with the STS rating and your cardiologist’s judgment.
Common Procedures and What to Expect
Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) remains one of the most studied and refined operations in surgery. The surgeon harvests an artery (commonly the left internal mammary artery, considered the gold-standard graft) or a vein from the leg and uses it to route blood around blocked coronary arteries. Multivessel disease, left main disease, and coronary disease in people with diabetes often have better long-term outcomes with CABG than with stents. Most patients spend several days in the hospital and roughly 8 to 12 weeks in recovery, with cardiac rehabilitation playing a meaningful role.
Heart valve surgery covers a wide spectrum. Aortic valve replacement is performed surgically (open or minimally invasive) or via catheter (TAVR), with TAVR now appropriate for many low-, intermediate-, and high-risk patients based on randomized trials; long-term durability data continue to accumulate. Mitral valve repair, when feasible, is generally preferred over replacement and offers better long-term outcomes, and high-volume mitral repair centers achieve high repair rates for degenerative disease. Transcatheter edge-to-edge mitral repair (such as MitraClip) is an option for selected patients who are poor surgical candidates.
Aortic surgery for ascending aneurysms or dissections is among the most complex cardiac operations. Elective ascending aortic repair at experienced centers carries relatively low mortality, while emergency dissection repair has substantially higher risk. Heart transplantation and VAD implantation are reserved for end-stage heart failure and concentrated at high-volume programs. Most cardiac surgeons work closely with interventional cardiologists in “heart team” meetings that bring multiple specialists together to plan complex cases.
Costs and Insurance Considerations
Cardiac surgery is one of the highest-cost areas of inpatient care. Hospitals publish “chargemaster” prices that are billed charges, not what insurers actually pay — negotiated and out-of-pocket amounts are typically far lower. As a rough sense of scale, billed charges for major cardiac procedures commonly run from the tens of thousands into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a heart transplant’s first-year cost of care can reach seven figures. Because these figures vary enormously by hospital, region, and your specific plan, use them only as a reminder to check coverage carefully, not as a price quote.
Medicare and most commercial plans cover medically necessary cardiac surgery, with your out-of-pocket cost driven mainly by your deductible, in-network status, and catastrophic out-of-pocket maximum. Self-pay pricing and bundled rates are increasingly available at some centers under price-transparency rules. Centers of Excellence networks negotiated by large employers sometimes cover travel and care at high-volume centers and can produce better outcomes at lower total cost. Our healthcare costs guide walks through how to compare facility versus professional fees and out-of-network risk, and it is worth requesting a written good-faith estimate before an elective procedure.
Telehealth Options for Cardiac Surgery
Cardiac surgery is hands-on by nature, but telehealth has become routine for second opinions, post-op check-ins after the early recovery period, and long-term follow-up. Many large heart programs accept records and imaging electronically and offer video second opinions for non-urgent decisions, especially valve and aortic disease where the right operation benefits from multiple expert views.
Pre-op evaluation typically requires in-person assessment by anesthesia and the surgeon, examination of vascular access sites, and direct review of imaging with the surgical team. Coverage rules for telehealth can differ by payer and change over time, so confirm your plan’s current benefit and any state-licensure requirements. Our telehealth guide walks through what to look for in a virtual specialist evaluation.
Heart Team Decision Making
Many cardiac decisions are made by a “heart team” rather than a single surgeon. This multidisciplinary group typically includes cardiac surgery, interventional cardiology, structural heart specialists, cardiac imaging, anesthesia, and sometimes geriatrics or palliative care for complex elderly patients. The heart team approach is the standard of care for TAVR decisions, mitral interventions, and complex coronary disease where the choice between bypass and stenting is not obvious.
For aortic stenosis, the choice between surgical aortic valve replacement and TAVR depends on age, surgical risk, anatomy, and patient preference; lower-risk patients now have evidence supporting TAVR as an alternative to surgery, though durability data are still maturing. For severe coronary disease, tools like the SYNTAX score help quantify which patients benefit more from CABG than from PCI, with diabetes, multivessel disease, and left main disease often favoring surgery.
Mitral valve disease has its own decision tree. Degenerative mitral regurgitation should generally be repaired rather than replaced when feasible, ideally at a high-volume mitral-repair center. Functional mitral regurgitation related to heart failure is increasingly addressed with transcatheter edge-to-edge repair when surgical risk is high. The right answer varies by patient and is a meaningful reason to seek evaluation at a high-volume program.
What to Bring to Your Pre-Op Consultation
Cardiac surgeons want imaging and reports more than a narrative history. Bring all echocardiograms (with measurements), cardiac catheterization films and reports, CT angiograms or cardiac MRI, recent stress test or PET results, EKGs from the past year, and operative notes from any prior cardiac or chest surgery. Bring recent labs including complete blood count, chemistry panel, kidney function, coagulation studies, and HbA1c.
List all medications, particularly anticoagulants and antiplatelet drugs, since these will be managed carefully around the operative date — do not stop or change them on your own. Note prior contrast reactions, anesthesia complications, and bleeding history. Bring a family history of cardiovascular disease and any genetic testing if relevant for aortopathy.
Get emergency help for sudden severe chest pain or pressure (possible heart attack), sudden severe or tearing back or chest pain (possible aortic dissection), shortness of breath at rest, fainting or near-fainting, or new severe or racing palpitations with dizziness. Call 911 immediately rather than driving yourself. An active heart attack or unstable arrhythmia is a life-threatening emergency and cannot wait for a scheduled consultation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a cardiac surgeon and a cardiologist?
Cardiologists diagnose and medically manage heart disease and perform catheter-based procedures (stents, ablations, TAVR). Cardiac surgeons perform open and minimally invasive surgery on the heart and great vessels. They work as a team for many patients, especially those with coronary or valvular disease.
What is the STS rating system?
The Society of Thoracic Surgeons publishes one-, two-, and three-star ratings for participating hospitals based on outcomes for CABG, valve surgery, and combined procedures. Three-star programs perform significantly better than expected; one-star programs perform worse than expected. Ratings are publicly available through the STS Public Reporting site.
Should I get a second opinion?
For elective cardiac surgery, a second opinion is reasonable and often valuable. Decisions like valve repair versus replacement, bypass versus PCI, or TAVR versus open surgery have legitimate variation in expert opinion, and a short delay to get another view is usually worthwhile.
How long is recovery from heart surgery?
Most patients leave the hospital several days after CABG or valve surgery. Cardiac rehab usually starts within a few weeks and often runs about 12 weeks. Full recovery typically takes 8 to 12 weeks for return to most activities, and the breastbone (sternum) generally takes several weeks to heal, so lifting and driving are restricted during that time.
What is minimally invasive heart surgery?
Some operations can be performed through smaller incisions or robotically rather than a full sternotomy. Mitral valve repair, single-vessel bypass, and some atrial fibrillation procedures are commonly done this way. Eligibility depends on your anatomy and the specific operation, and not every patient or center offers it.
The Bottom Line
A cardiac surgeon near you is best chosen with input from your cardiologist, STS hospital ratings, and program volume. ABTS board certification is the credential to verify, and STS three-star or comparable high-volume programs offer the best documented outcomes. Telehealth can support second opinions and post-op care, but the surgery and pre-op evaluation are in person. For elective procedures, taking time to compare programs and get a second opinion is almost always worth the delay — and for sudden, severe cardiac symptoms, call 911 rather than waiting for an appointment.
Sources
- American Board of Thoracic Surgery (ABTS) — board certification; certificationmatters.org (ABMS)
- Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) — Public Reporting / star ratings; Adult Cardiac Surgery Database
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) — Care Compare; hospital cardiac-surgery quality measures
- American Heart Association (AHA) / American College of Cardiology (ACC) — valvular heart disease and coronary revascularization guidance
- MedlinePlus (U.S. National Library of Medicine) — heart surgery, CABG, and heart valve surgery overviews