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Clinical Workflow Coordination That Ensures Work Gets Done
Move Beyond Messaging to True Coordination
Medication alerts acknowledged in minutes, not days. Discharge workflows where every department sees what's blocking the bed. Consults with confirmed response times. Backline Pathways coordinates clinical workflows from signal to completion—with accountability at every step.
Schedule a Workflow Assessment
See Pathways in Action
Each workflow below shows a real coordination breakdown and exactly how Pathways solves it—from the initial signal through confirmed completion.
Medication Alerts – Critical Safety
Patient SafetyThe Problem
Patient admitted on a critical transplant rejection medication that's not on formulary. Pharmacy sends a message: "Medication must come from home." The message gets lost in nursing communication threads. Patient goes 2–3 days without the medication, risking organ rejection.
This isn't a routing problem. It's a coordination problem. The message was sent—but no one was accountable for ensuring the patient got the medication.
With Pathways
- Pharmacy creates a task assigned to the patient's nurse with full context about the medication need.
- The nurse must acknowledge receipt within 1 hour (the SLA is configurable).
- If the nurse does not acknowledge, the task automatically escalates to the charge nurse.
- When the medication arrives, the nurse marks the task complete.
- The full audit trail is maintained in the patient's medical record.
✓ The Outcome
Critical medications are never missed. Nursing and pharmacy both have visibility, with clear accountability at every step. Full audit trail for compliance—without adding work for clinicians.
Patient Discharge – Operational Efficiency
ThroughputThe Problem
Patient is clinically ready for discharge at 8am. But pharmacy hasn't completed med rec, transport isn't scheduled, and case management is waiting on insurance authorization. The physician marks "ready for discharge" in the EHR, but six different departments need to complete tasks before the patient can actually leave.
The EHR tracks the clinical status. It doesn't coordinate the operational work that actually gets patients out the door.
With Pathways
- When the physician marks discharge ready, Pathways automatically creates parallel tasks for all required departments.
- Each department sees their task with the context they need: patient info, timeline, and what's blocking discharge.
- A real-time dashboard shows which tasks are complete, in progress, or blocking.
- The charge nurse can see exactly what's holding up the bed—not just that the patient "isn't discharged yet."
- Escalation paths ensure nothing sits unacknowledged.
✓ The Outcome
Reduced time from "discharge ready" to "patient out the door." Beds turn over faster. Staff spends less time chasing status and more time doing their actual work.
Consult Response – Clinical Speed
Time-SensitiveThe Problem
ED physician needs a cardiology consult for a patient with chest pain. They page cardiology... and wait. Did someone get the page? Is someone coming? Should they page again? Meanwhile, the patient waits and the ED backs up.
Paging systems confirm delivery, not response. There's no accountability for acknowledgment or response time.
With Pathways
- ED physician creates a consult request that routes to the on-call cardiologist with full clinical context.
- The cardiologist must acknowledge receipt within 15 minutes (configurable SLA).
- If no acknowledgment, the request automatically escalates to the backup cardiologist or department chief.
- The ED physician sees real-time status: sent, acknowledged, en route, completed.
- Response times are tracked for quality metrics.
✓ The Outcome
Consults get acknowledged, not ignored. Requesters have visibility. Specialists aren't double-paged. Response time metrics enable quality improvement.
Care Transitions – Cross-Org Coordination
ContinuityThe Problem
Patient being discharged to skilled nursing facility. Medication administration record (MAR) sent via fax or hand-delivered with transport. No confirmation that receiving facility got the information.
Care transitions are the highest-risk points for medication errors. When receiving facilities don't get complete information or clarifying questions go unanswered, patient safety is compromised.
With Pathways
- The case manager initiates the transfer workflow when discharge is planned.
- The MAR document is attached to a secure message sent to the receiving SNF.
- SNF staff receives a notification and must acknowledge receipt of the information.
- If clarifying questions are needed, the conversation happens in the same thread.
- Confirmation is visible to the hospital care team in real time.
- All communication is HIPAA-compliant and fully auditable.
✓ The Outcome
Hospital and SNF connected in a single workflow. Questions get answered before the patient arrives. Medication continuity is confirmed, not assumed. Full audit trail for compliance.
Prior Authorization Tracking – Revenue & Efficiency
Revenue CycleThe Problem
Infusion center prior authorizations tracked across multiple platforms—chat threads, shared folders, email. Finding approval status requires searching through multiple systems. No consolidated view.
Staff waste hours hunting for status. Denials aren't caught early enough to pivot to alternatives. Every day without authorization is delayed care and delayed revenue.
With Pathways
- When the infusion center receives an order, they create a prior authorization workflow ticket.
- The ticket includes order details, patient information, and insurance information.
- The workflow routes to the authorization specialist with status tracking built in.
- Status updates progress through stages: Submitted, Pending, and Approved or Denied.
- If denied, the workflow automatically routes to pharmacy for biosimilar alternatives.
- If approved, the workflow routes to scheduling and pharmacy to proceed.
✓ The Outcome
Single source of truth for authorization status. Faster pivots when denials occur. Less staff time hunting for status. Better revenue cycle performance.
Referral Management – Network Coordination
NetworkThe Problem
PCP refers patient to specialist. Referral goes into the EHR. Did the specialist office receive it? Did the patient schedule? Did they show up? PCP has no visibility unless they manually follow up—which they don't have time to do.
Referral leakage costs health systems patients and revenue. Care gaps occur when referrals fall through the cracks.
With Pathways
- PCP creates referral with clinical context attached.
- Specialist office receives notification with patient information.
- Specialist office must acknowledge receipt within 24 hours.
- Status updates flow back: scheduled, completed, or unable to reach patient.
- PCP office has visibility into referral status without making phone calls.
- Referral completion metrics enable network performance management.
✓ The Outcome
Referrals don't disappear into the void. PCPs have visibility. Specialists get complete information. Patients get care. Networks can measure performance.
Ready to see how this works for your specific workflows?
Schedule a Workflow AssessmentWhy Coordination Fails—And How Pathways Fixes It
Healthcare has invested heavily in communication tools. But moving messages faster doesn't solve the coordination problem. Here's what's different about Pathways.
Accountability, Not Just Delivery
Messages get delivered. Tasks get completed. Pathways ensures someone is responsible for every workflow step—with escalation when things stall.
Visibility Across the Workflow
Not just "message sent" but "task acknowledged, in progress, completed." Real-time status for everyone involved—without the phone calls.
Flexibility Without Chaos
Configure workflows for your processes. Change escalation paths. Adjust SLAs. You're not locked into someone else's idea of how healthcare should work.
Built to Work With What You Have
Pathways integrates with your existing systems—EHRs, scheduling, on-call management—so workflows start and complete where your teams already work.
EHR Integration
Workflows can be triggered by EHR events. Patient context flows automatically. No double documentation.
On-Call Schedules
Pathways knows who's on call. Requests route to the right person automatically—no outdated call lists.
Mobile-First
Clinicians receive tasks where they are—mobile notifications that work with the devices they already carry.
Enterprise Security
HIPAA-compliant. SOC 2 Type II. Built for healthcare from the ground up—not adapted from consumer tools.
Communication vs. Coordination
You already have communication tools. Here's what coordination adds.
Who Uses Pathways
Coordination isn't one team's job—it spans roles. Here's how different teams benefit.
Tasks that are clear, trackable, and don't get lost in chat threads
Consult requests that reach the right person and don't require follow-up
Medication coordination with confirmed accountability
Discharge workflows with real-time visibility across departments
Dashboards showing workflow completion, bottlenecks, and SLA performance
Standard integrations, enterprise security, minimal support burden
Common Questions
See How Pathways Works in Your Environment
We'll map your specific coordination challenges—whether that's medication safety, discharge delays, consult response, care transitions, or authorization bottlenecks—and show you how Pathways addresses them.
- ✓ 30-minute workflow assessment
- ✓ Tailored to your specific challenges
- ✓ No obligation, no pressure
- ✓ Talk to people who understand healthcare
Schedule a Workflow Assessment
We'll respond within one business day.