Pre-admission workflow automation for private hospitals.
PreopFlow helps perioperative teams identify risk earlier, automate document follow-up, and reduce manual pre-op workload while aligning workflows to local hospital policies and guidelines.
Why current workflows break
Pre-admission operations across many hospitals face common challenges that increase cost, delay readiness, and contribute to late-stage cancellations.
Multi-system handoffs
Duplicated data entry across disconnected systems and teams.
Manual patient follow-up
Completion tracking and patient outreach managed with substantial manual effort.
Inconsistent intake quality
Missing critical details and variable data quality from patient-reported information.
Non-standardised triage
High-risk case handling and follow-up workflows vary between teams and clinicians.
Delayed external correspondence
Collecting specialist reports and clinical information is slow and operationally inconsistent.
Repetitive summary tasks
Nurses prepare duplicate summaries and communication across multiple recipients.
Limited readiness visibility
No consolidated view of case readiness status across upcoming surgical lists.
Capacity pressure
Pre-admission teams face staffing and capacity constraints that push work closer to surgery.
How pre-admission typically works today
- Procedure booking information moves across multiple teams and systems.
- Administrative and nursing staff coordinate patient outreach and completion follow-up.
- High-risk patients are prioritised for additional review and phone contact.
- Missing external clinical information is chased from outside providers.
- Key findings are summarised and communicated to perioperative doctors.
How PreopFlow works
Four integrated steps replace fragmented manual workflows with practical automation.
Auto Data Entry
Surgical list data is extracted and entered automatically. Integrates with your PAS and EMR as needed.
Smart Surveys
Adaptive patient questionnaires capture clinically relevant details based on procedure context and local policy requirements.
Document Chase
Automated requests and reminders gather external specialist correspondence without manual follow-up.
Doctor Notification
Doctor-ready summaries are delivered to perioperative clinicians for earlier decision-making.
Earlier readiness. Fewer surprises. Better theatre utilisation.
Configured to local protocols
Survey logic, triage rules, and notifications can be aligned to your organisation's perioperative pathways.
Built around your workflows
Automation is designed to support your team's existing operating model rather than forcing a generic process.
Improves over time
With ongoing configuration updates and team feedback, workflows can be refined as policy and operational needs evolve.
Not a digital version of manual workflows
Most hospitals already use e-forms. The gap is PAS integration and response-driven automation.
Legacy pre-admission software
- Static e-forms that do not adapt to procedure or patient context
- Manual sending and follow-up due to disconnected workflows
- Late-stage risk identification close to surgery
- High nursing administrative workload
- No response-driven automation for triage, escalation, or team notifications
- Siloed data across disconnected systems
- Limited or no integration with existing PAS/EMR
PreopFlow
- Automation from intake to summary
- Automated document orchestration and reminders
- Early risk identification with configurable triage rules
- Nurses focused on high-value clinical care
- Proactive doctor-ready notification workflow
- Local pathway and guideline alignment
- Integrates with your existing PAS and EMR systems
The business case for automation
Pre-admission is a material labour-cost and revenue-protection lever for private hospitals.
2.8M
Private-hospital procedures each year in Australia (about 62%)[1]
Australia performs around 4.5 million surgical anaesthetics annually, with 2.8 million in private hospitals.[1] Pre-admission work typically takes 30-60 minutes per patient,[2] implying about $60 million in annual labour cost across private hospitals, or roughly $200,000 for a 10,000-surgery hospital.[3][4]
Cancellation impact is also material: OR time is costly (~$50/minute), average cancellation impact is often cited near ~$4,000 per case, and reported day-of-surgery cancellation rates are around 10-14%.[5][6][7] Even modest reductions in preventable cancellations can protect meaningful revenue.
Where value is created
Surveys
Adaptive intake improves first-pass completeness and reduces manual follow-up.
Surgical list data entry
Automated extraction reduces manual entry time and transcription risk.[8]
Gathering correspondence
Automated requests and reminders reduce chasing and surface key documents earlier.
Patient calls
Fewer calls are needed, and required calls are documented faster.
Information synthesis
Earlier summaries support timely pre-op decisions and fewer late surprises.[9]
[1] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Admitted patient care 2023-24: Australian hospital statistics.
[2] Buddy Healthcare. Care coordination and pre-admission workflow benchmark evidence.
[3] NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association. Public Health System pay calculator (2025).
[4] Fair Work Ombudsman. Health Professionals and Support Services Award MA000027 summary.
[5] Childers CP, Maggard-Gibbons M. Understanding Costs of Care in the Operating Room. JAMA Surg. 2018;153(4):e176233.
[6] Argo JL, Vick CC, Graham LA, et al. Elective surgical case cancellation in the Veterans Health Administration system. Am J Surg. 2009;198(5):600-6.
[7] Schofield WN, Rubin GL, Piza M, et al. Cancellation of operations on the day of intended surgery at a major Australian referral hospital. Med J Aust. 2005;182(12):612-5.
[8] Bloom S, Thomas D, Patel K. Surgical Scheduling Errors During Manual Data Transfer. Journal of Surgical Research. 2024;293:102-108.
[9] Rai MR, Pandit JJ. Day of surgery cancellations after nurse-led pre-assessment in an elective surgical centre. Anaesthesia. 2003;58(7):692-9.
Ready to see PreopFlow in action?
Talk to our team about how PreopFlow can help your hospital.