Heart failure is a frequent and severe disease. The rate of avoidable hospitalizations due to lack of treatment adherence is estimated at 30% and, makes this disease a prime target for patient education. Implementation of such education initially began as a function of the local possibilities and willingness, which has led to great variety in the programs (only some of which meet the criteria set forth in the National Authority for Health guidelines) and the tools used. More recently, regional and even national programs, such as ICARE, sponsored by the two principal learned societies (The French Society and French Federation of Cardiology) have helped more than 200 private and public hospitals to set up field patient education programs based upon common concepts and tools.