Vascular access centers run on thin margins and tight schedules. One patient who skips their NPO hold, forgets to stop their anticoagulant, or shows up without an escort can blow a full procedural slot — with downstream cascading delays across the afternoon.
Vascular access centers have a predictable failure pattern: patients forget their NPO hold, stop their anticoagulant incorrectly, miss the escort confirmation, or ghost the day-of confirmation call. CaseFlow eliminates each one.
CaseFlow fires a T-24h SMS confirming the NPO window (midnight or as specified), plus a T-3h reminder. For fistulagrams requiring only moderate sedation, the NPO requirement is often confusing — patients think "light breakfast" is fine. Our SMS spells it out explicitly with the procedure name and time.
T-24h + T-3h NPO SMS — confirmed received, not just sentPlavix requires a 5-day hold before fistulagrams. Eliquis and Xarelto need 48 hours. Patients routinely restart early or show up still on their anticoagulant — triggering a same-day case cancel. CaseFlow sends a T-7d hold instruction with the specific medication and date, a T-3d confirmation check-in ("Have you stopped [medication]?"), and a T-1d same-day confirmation. Responses are triaged: confirmed → green, uncertain → coordinator alert before the slot opens.
Plavix (5-day), Eliquis/Xarelto (48h) — automated hold cadence with patient confirmationDeclotting procedures and fistulagrams with angioplasty often require moderate sedation — which means a driver must be present at discharge. 72% of same-day cancellations for these cases trace to missing escort confirmation. CaseFlow confirms the escort at T-24h and again at T-2h. If the patient hasn't confirmed their driver, your coordinator gets an alert with enough lead time to problem-solve — not at 7am when the patient is already in the parking lot.
T-24h + T-2h escort confirmation — coordinator alerted if unconfirmedCaseFlow sends a morning-of SMS with procedure time, arrival instructions, and a one-tap confirmation ("Confirming my procedure at [time] ✓"). Non-responders get a follow-up at +30 minutes. This catches the patient who overslept, double-booked their dialysis session, or is sitting in the wrong parking lot — before the room sits idle and your staff makes 3 outbound calls.
Morning-of confirmation → non-responder triage → coordinator alert within 30 min of no-replyAfter fistulagram or declotting procedures, patients go home with a punctured artery and a pressure dressing. Minor bleeds are common and manageable with 10 minutes of direct pressure. Major bleeds need immediate 911. CaseFlow sends a T-2h check-in SMS: "How's the access site? No active bleeding, minor oozing, or bleeding requiring pressure?" Responses route to your staff inbox in real-time — red flag bleeds hit the coordinator phone immediately, not the next morning.
T-2h bleed check-in → triage to inbox → urgent alerts for active bleedingWhen a fistulagram or declotting slot cancels, you need a pre-qualified patient who can show up same-day — confirmed for NPO, anticoagulant held, escort arranged, authorization current. CaseFlow maintains a live readiness queue for every waitlist patient, so you can fire the blast the moment a slot opens.
High-volume outpatient cases. No-shows cluster around the 15–20% mark pre-CaseFlow. Primary failure modes: anticoagulant hold confusion, escort for sedation, and last-minute dialysis schedule conflicts. T-7d + T-1d confirmation sequence eliminates the first two. Waitlist fill on same-day cancels recovers 1 in 3 slots.
High-urgency, high-value cases. A declotting cancellation is the most expensive in the OBL — the patient has a failing fistula and every hour of delay increases the risk of permanent access loss. CaseFlow flags these patients for priority waitlist and pre-confirms them weekly, not just the day-of.
High-comorbidity dialysis patients, often on anticoagulation for AFib or DVT. ASA 3–4 is common. Anticoagulant hold tracking (Plavix, Eliquis, warfarin INR bridge) is the #1 cancellation driver. Anesthesia clearance coordination is often required for patients with CAD/PAD. CaseFlow tracks both — from scheduling through T-72h OR-ready check.
Lower-value, high-frequency cases. Often scheduled on short notice for patients in dialysis transition. No-show rate is elevated because patients don't have the same procedural investment as surgical cases. T-7d + T-1d SMS cadence plus deposit hold at booking reduces no-shows to under 9%.
CaseFlow recovers one fistulagram slot per week — that's $176,800/year — against an annual cost that's a fraction of that.
See the full pre-op sequence in action — try the sandbox with a pre-loaded vascular access center example.