The Clearance Question: Cardiology Meets Sports Medicine

A clinician-to-clinician conversation on getting young athletes back safely. Where a cardiac clearance decision and a return-to-play decision meet, and what each side needs from the other to get it right the first time.

Live + Recorded · 60 minutes · 12:00 PM ET ·

Two clearance decisions. One athlete.

Dr. Patrick Flynn, MD · Pediatric Cardiology Founder, Avalon Pediatric Cardiology. Former Director of Pediatric Echocardiography, Weill Cornell. 38 years protecting young athletes' hearts. Focus: cardiac clearance, POTS and syncope, EKG interpretation.

The less time a young athlete is held out pending clearance, the better.

TBD· Non-Operative Sports Medicine, Hospital for Special Surgery Focus: concussion and return-to-play protocols, overuse injury, pre-participation evaluation.

Session outline

Two Signatures, One Clearance Form** Why young athletes get stuck waiting between a cardiac clearance and a sports medicine clearance, and where the two decisions actually depend on each other.

The Cardiac Clearance Decision** (Dr. Flynn) Murmur evaluation, POTS, syncope and EKG interpretation. What belongs in a pre-participation evaluation, and when a sports medicine finding should trigger a cardiology referral.

The Return-to-Play Decision** Concussion protocols, overuse injury and non-operative management of the young athlete. When a cardiac question should hold up a return-to-play timeline.

Building the Referral Pathway Between Them** (joint discussion) A shared case discussion: what each physician needs from the other to give a family a clearance decision without weeks of back-and-forth.

Live Q&A with the YAS Community** Open floor for member questions. The session closes with a downloadable joint clearance checklist.

Who this is for

• Sports Medicine and Pediatrics who sign off on return-to-play and want a clearer sense of when a cardiac question should hold up that decision.
• Pediatric and Family Medicine doing pre-participation evaluations and wanting a sharper referral threshold between cardiology and sports medicine.
• Orthopedics and PT/OT managing injury recovery in athletes where a cardiac clearance is still pending or unclear.
• All YAS members. This session builds the shared clinical language the whole group draws on.

Reserved for Young Athlete Health Society members. Recording and referral guide sent to all registrants after the session.