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Moffitt Cancer Center uses Zingtree guided workflows to help schedulers connect newly diagnosed patients with the appropriate clinic and provider the first time around. The guided process simplifies complex routing decisions, reduces the need for clinical expertise, and helps new hires get up to speed in a fraction of the time.

The challenge: Incorrect routing can lead to scheduling delays

Getting a newly diagnosed patient to the right clinic, specialty, and provider can require navigating complex clinical criteria. Previously, Moffitt schedulers relied on reference materials, including spreadsheets and other documents, to guide routing decisions, which could result in patients being scheduled with the incorrect program or provider. 

The error usually wasn't caught until the provider's previsit review, a day or two before the appointment.

• Patients were rescheduled and pushed back weeks, after already taking time off work
• Providers were booked with patients who needed a different specialty or program, limiting availability for patients they were best suited to see
• Incorrect bookings took up limited appointment slots and required last-minute rework

“Patients were being scheduled in the incorrect program or with the incorrect provider, and it would create delays in care, inconsistencies, and issues for patients.” – Nick Eldredge, Director of Financial Clearance and Patient Navigation, Moffitt Cancer Center

Implementation: Easy to adopt, guided from the start

When Nick's team took over Moffitt's new patient scheduling in February, the process was already running on Zingtree, allowing the team to get started right away. 

Adoption was easy because the workflow guides schedulers through the process one question at a time, using information from the patient, a referring provider, or clinic documentation. 

“It was very smooth. It's not so much learning Zingtree as it is learning how to get the answers you need from patients or their clinical information. As soon as you have the answer, Zingtree does the rest.” – Nick Eldredge, Director of Financial Clearance and Patient Navigation, Moffitt Cancer Center

Solution: Clinical routing, one question at a time

The workflow gives schedulers the guidance they need to make complex routing decisions. It doesn't stop at a broad category; it narrows to the specific clinic, specialty, and even whether the patient should see a physician or an advanced practice provider. Every question the scheduler answers serves as a check along the way.

• Six or seven scripted questions guide each patient’s routing, one answer at a time
• Zingtree maps roughly 50 possible answers to the appropriate next step
• The spreadsheets and other documents previously used to guide routing are no longer needed

“Every single question a scheduler goes through is a check. They just need to find the answer that was scripted in the system, and then they're at the next step. They don't need to know where to go next; Zingtree takes them straight to it.” – Nick Eldredge, Director of Financial Clearance and Patient Navigation, Moffitt Cancer Center

Results: Faster onboarding and visibility for the first time

Full reporting is still being established, but the early signals are clear. The guided workflow reduces the clinical knowledge schedulers need to navigate complex routing decisions, helping new hires get up to speed faster and expanding who Moffitt can hire for the role.

• Estimated new-hire training time reduced from four or five weeks to about two
• Moffitt can staff schedulers for a process that previously required greater clinical knowledge
• For the first time, the team can see how many patients are referred back to the community, and evaluate whether Moffitt could safely see more

“It most likely cuts down training time for a new hire from up to four or five weeks to maybe two, and it lets team members not feel like they need to be a clinical expert when they clearly are not.” – Nick Eldredge, Director of Financial Clearance and Patient Navigation, Moffitt Cancer Center

Looking ahead

Reporting is the near-term priority, giving the team greater visibility into what happens in the platform and helping identify opportunities to improve routing and refine the workflow. Bigger bets follow.

• An API connection will link every session to the patient's medical record number, helping streamline quality assurance
• With that data, the team can trace a routing issue to the specific question in the workflow
• Patient self-service is on the roadmap, including potential web, AI voice, or text-based options

“It allows us to schedule patients with the right provider the first time around. You're saving patients trouble, saving providers trouble, saving the organization money. Everybody wins.” – Nick Eldredge, Director of Financial Clearance and Patient Navigation, Moffitt Cancer Center

About Moffitt Cancer Center

Moffitt Cancer Center is the only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center based in Florida, and one of a select group nationwide. Based in Tampa, it is a freestanding cancer center with more than 10,000 team members and hundreds of active clinical trials, dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and research of cancer.

About Zingtree

Zingtree is the agentic context and decision layer that orchestrates complex, high-stakes support workflows safely, accurately, and at scale.