Case Study: University of Tennessee Medical Center achieves faster follow-up scheduling and reduced readmissions with PerfectServe

How To Reduce Readmissions by Optimizing Appointment Scheduling

The University of Tennessee Medical Center (UTMC) was struggling to reliably schedule post‑catheterization follow‑up appointments before patients were discharged: nurses and medical assistants often left voicemails with cardiology offices and waited hours or days for callbacks, which led to missed appointments, lower medication/wound‑care compliance, and increased readmission risk. To solve this, UTMC implemented PerfectServe’s Clinical Collaboration secure communication platform to coordinate follow‑up scheduling in real time.

PerfectServe’s solution lets medical assistants send appointment requests directly and uses automatic escalation if a request isn’t handled within 30 minutes, enabling supervisors to step in. As a result, UTMC reduced the back‑and‑forth phone traffic by 4,000 calls over the past year, now consistently schedules follow‑ups within 30 minutes, and has improved staff efficiency, relationships with cardiology offices, and adherence to best practices—reducing the risk of costly 30‑day readmissions.

University of Tennessee Medical Center

Becky Newport

Nurse Manager