On Demand: The Future of the CV Care Team: Building Virtual Care Pods to Expand Access, Capacity and Team-Based Care-Webinar Recording

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The webinar focused on a growing crisis in cardiovascular care: demand is rising much faster than the cardiology workforce, leading to longer waits, overloaded clinicians, and growing inbox burden. Dr. Robert Logger described how MedStar Health responded by creating an APP-led “virtual care pod” model designed not just to add staff, but to create capacity.<br /><br />The pilot paired one advanced practice provider (APP) and a remote medical assistant with three cardiologists. The pod handled low-acuity follow-ups, patient portal messages, and conversion of complex messages into billable virtual visits. Hiring emphasized experienced, autonomous, cardiology-trained APPs who were vetted directly by the cardiologists they would support. The model also required carefully planned scheduling so APPs had protected time for inbox management, not just visits.<br /><br />Results from the pilot were strong: improved access, increased revenue, better patient satisfaction, more work-hour use, and a 35% reduction in after-hours EHR time. MedStar then scaled the model internally, eventually adding nursing support and recognizing that the operational burden of recruiting, onboarding, coordinating, and covering the team was becoming too heavy to manage in-house.<br /><br />That led to the spinout of Auxira, a company built to provide this pod model more broadly. Ina Plum explained that Auxira uses a national talent pool, standardized onboarding, and a fully integrated workflow that requires no new IT build. External partner systems saw gains in RVUs, message response times, and new patient volume, with ROI typically within the first year.<br /><br />The key message: virtual care pods can improve access, productivity, and clinician well-being at the same time.

Keywords

cardiovascular care

virtual care pod

advanced practice provider

cardiology workforce

patient portal messages

inbox burden

EHR time reduction

MedStar Health

Auxira

clinician productivity