Spotlight: Sharing the Playbook – Building and Replicating a High-Value Atrial Fibrillation Clinic

Spotlight Overview:

As the prevalence of atrial fibrillation continues to rise, health systems are challenged to improve patient access while delivering timely, evidence-based care. In this CardiQ Spotlight, Jennifer Wright, MA, MD, FHRS, Andrea Robinson, MSN, ACNP, and Amanda P. Breuer, BS, PA-C, share how their organizations developed and refined high-value AF clinics that improve access, streamline care, and support better patient outcomes. Through lessons learned from launching, expanding, and continuously improving their programs, they demonstrate how organizations can accelerate success by leveraging data, engaging stakeholders, and adapting proven models rather than starting from scratch.

Why This Matters: Building a successful AF clinic requires more than creating a new appointment type — it requires a coordinated strategy that aligns clinical goals, operational workflows, leadership support, and continuous measurement. This Spotlight provides practical guidance for organizations seeking to improve access to AF care while creating a model that can grow and evolve over time.

CardiQ Framework: This Spotlight demonstrates the following CardiQ Framework pillars:

	Prepare:  Identify care gaps, evaluate wait times, analyze baseline data, and define the need for an AF clinic.
	Engage:  Secure institutional buy-in and involve physicians, APPs, administrators, emergency medicine, sleep medicine, and other key stakeholders.
	Design: Develop standardized referral pathways, define patient eligibility, and adapt successful models from peer institutions.
	Implement:  Launch the clinic, refine workflows, address operational challenges, and continuously improve referral processes.
	Report: Track access metrics, operational performance, quality measures, and clinical outcomes to demonstrate value and support future growth.
	Sustain/Scale: Continue expanding the program, build multidisciplinary partnerships, share resources, and help other organizations replicate success.

1. Identifying the Need for an AF Clinic

Growing demand, long wait times, and delays in treatment highlighted the need for a new approach to atrial fibrillation care. Learn how identifying care gaps, analyzing performance data, and aligning the proposed clinic with organizational priorities established a compelling case for change. Estimated viewing time: xx minutes.

2. Building Support for Change

Launching a new clinic begins with stakeholder engagement. Hear how clinical teams used data to demonstrate the impact of delayed care, secured institutional support, learned from peer organizations, and navigated the inevitable challenges that accompany implementing a new model of care. Estimated viewing time: xx minutes.

3. Designing a Scalable Care Model

Organizations don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Discover how adapting successful models from other institutions, defining patient eligibility, building multidisciplinary partnerships, and creating standardized processes helped establish an AF clinic that could expand while maintaining high-quality care. Estimated viewing time: xx minutes.

4. Measuring Success Beyond Wait Times

Measuring success extends beyond reducing wait times. Explore the operational and clinical metrics used to evaluate clinic performance, including referral-to-visit time, procedural volume, anticoagulation management, quality measures, and holistic AF care. Estimated viewing time: xx minutes.

5. Lessons for Building a Sustainable AF Clinic

Long-term success depends on collaboration, stakeholder engagement, and continuous improvement. Hear the team’s practical advice for launching an AF clinic, including engaging multidisciplinary partners early, learning from organizations that have already implemented successful models, and leveraging resources like CardiQ to accelerate implementation. Estimated viewing time: xx minutes.

Key Takeaways

• Use data to clearly define the problem and demonstrate why a dedicated AF clinic is needed.
• Align the proposal with organizational priorities to build leadership support and secure necessary resources.
• Learn from organizations that have already implemented similar programs rather than starting from scratch.
• Track meaningful operational and clinical metrics to demonstrate value and guide continuous improvement.
• Build multidisciplinary partnerships early to create a clinic that can evolve, expand, and sustain long-term success.