Should we build it ourselves?
You could. But you probably shouldn't.
Most health systems or practices already have telehealth. Running a virtual cardiology pod that pays for itself, and scales across a large practice, is a different challenge. The gap is in the parts nobody sees until they are missing.
Why not?
Five things have to be right.
- 01
Finding the APP
You don't post a job on a board for a cardiology APP with an average of 5 years of experience who can work independently from home. Sourcing and matching them is most of the work, then comes handling PTO coverage.
- 02
The right scope
One APP, one MA, one fractional RN, each working at their license and cost. Skip the structure and protocols and you get an inboxologist who is excellent at answering messages, but with an empty schedule and no revenue to pay for it.
- 03
Conversion protocols
Knowing which messages should become visits, what follow-up visits can be virtual, and then turning them into visits, is a system. Without it, the program doesn't pay for itself and you have unhappy patients.
- 04
Patient adoption
Cardiology patients can be wary of virtual visits. Proven best practices and coaching move acceptance from maybe to yes.
- 05
Managing the work
Management of the team, handling PTO coverage, weekly visit tracking, daily huddles, and physician feedback keep performance climbing instead of leveling off.
We've already built and run all of it.When you partner with Auxira, it arrives working.
Why partner with us?
Less effort, more capacity.
Built without conversion protocols and role delineation, the likely outcome is an excellent APP with an empty schedule. Relative effort, shown as ranges.
Build it internally
- Sourcing & matching the APPMultiple months
- Designing the role & scopeHigh effort
- Building conversion protocolsSignificant effort
- Driving patient adoptionModerate effort
- Onboarding & trainingContinuous
- Ongoing management & trackingContinuous
Partner with Auxira
- Sourcing & matching the APPMinimal
- Designing the role & scopeIncluded
- Building conversion protocolsIncluded
- Driving patient adoptionMinimal
- Onboarding & trainingIncluded
- Ongoing management & trackingIncluded
Relative effort ranges
Free download
Pressure-test the plan before you staff it.
Ten questions to answer before you staff a virtual cardiology pod yourself, plus the benchmarks we use to judge whether one is working.
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“This job is a very independent one. APPs have to function at a high level, at the top of their license, and it's not easy finding that kind of training locally. Having a company with the national reach to find those APPs anywhere in the country is a huge advantage.”
Your questions answered
The questions practices ask us most when they're weighing doing this in-house.
Building internally means recruiting subspecialty-trained APPs, writing inbox conversion protocols, coaching patients into adoption, and standing up performance oversight, work that typically takes most health systems far longer than expected to get right and costs $300,000+ per pod annually. Auxira brings this infrastructure already built and tested at health systems like MedStar Health and St. Luke's University Health Network, live in 3–4 months. As MedStar Health's physician lead put it: "It's just really hard to operationalize... partnering packages all of this up, making it smooth and frictionless."
An internally built pod (one APP, one MA, one fractional RN) typically runs $300,000+ per year in salary and overhead alone, before accounting for recruiting time, protocol development, and the months it takes most in-house programs to reach full performance. Auxira absorbs roughly $107,000 in typical startup costs on top of that and arrives with protocols already tested across practices and health systems.
Telehealth platforms give you technology without clinical staff; staffing agencies give you people without cardiology protocols or performance management. Auxira provides both: 1) a cardiology-subspecialized, APP-led pod; 2) the triage systems, patient-coaching playbooks, and ongoing performance management that creates a virtual program delivering billable clinical visits and converting messages into visit revenue, not just messages answered.
With the right introduction, yes. Auxira APPs use a structured patient-coaching framework to address common objections, including comfort with technology, unfamiliarity with NP-led care, and preference for in-person visits, and build lasting relationships with their patient panel. Practices adopting the model have seen top-box Press Ganey scores improve by 14%.
See the numbers for your practice
Model the pod against your own panel before you commit to anything.
