Advanced practice providers in cardiology are moving well beyond a support role, with more than half now holding formal administrative positions, according to MedAxiom’s 2025 APP Compensation and Utilization Report released June 23.
The report drew responses from 104 cardiovascular organizations — a 16% increase from 2024 — spanning all major U.S. regions. For the first time, the survey asked whether APPs hold administrative roles, and a majority said yes.
APP deployment is also shifting toward higher-acuity procedural subspecialties. The share of programs deploying APPs in electrophysiology rose from 82% to 87%, and structural heart climbed from 62% to 73%. Heart failure and prevention each declined.
Independent scheduling continues to expand: 96% of programs reported independent APP scheduling, and 76% reported APPs seeing patients in clinic without a physician present.
Compensation trended sharply toward productivity-based models. Programs using productivity-linked incentives nearly doubled from 37% in 2022 to 64% in 2025, with median total APP compensation reaching $131,883 in 2024. Procedural subspecialties posted the largest pay increases.
One gap persists: despite greater training requirements for APPs in prevention and lipid clinics, more than 95% of programs reported no pay differential for that subspecialty expertise.
MedAxiom, an American College of Cardiology company, has tracked APP compensation and utilization annually since 2019, with the respondent pool growing each year.
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