Hospice of the Chesapeake Reduces Audit Burden by 100%
Largest Independent Hospice in Maryland works with DART to scale audits by 50x with 87% less auditors involved
Oct 29, 2025
"The potential of AI for the hospice industry at large is enormous."
-Monica Escalante, Chief Strategy and Information Officer
Company: Hospice of the Chesapeake
Industry: Hospice
Location: Maryland
Size: 200+ clinicians
Challenge: Manual chart auditing limited coverage to <10% of records, requiring 15 staff
Solution: Dart Health's AI-powered automated chart auditing
"It's doing 95 percent of the manual work that I was once doing."
- Megan Schoolcraft, Compliance Nurse
The Challenge: Drowning in Documentation, Starving for Time
As Maryland's largest independent hospice, Hospice of the Chesapeake faces a challenge healthcare knows all to well: delivering compassionate end-of-life care in an increasingly regulated environment.
The numbers told a stark story:
Less than 10% of patient charts could be manually audited
Reactive compliance posture, identifying problems only after they occurred
Inconsistent standards across different auditors
No visibility into clinician training needs or systemic issues
For an organization serving diverse communities across four Maryland counties - each with different cultural approaches to end-of-life care - this lack of comprehensive oversight was untenable.
The Solution: AI-Powered Auditing That Scales
Hospice of the Chesapeake took a measured approach:
Extensive vetting
Deep customization
Thoughtful rollout
Dart is the first AI tool that we have deployed across the board. - Monica, Chief Strategy & Information Officer
The Results: From 15 Auditors to 2, From Sampling to Comprehensive
Our 100% compliance equals less audits from Medicare to in a hundred percent compliance. So DART has mitigated a risk both financially and clinically drastically. - Monica Escalante, Chief Strategy & Information Officer
The impact was transformative:
87% Reduction in Auditing Staff
What once required 15 full-time employees now takes just 2—with dramatically better results. This freed up resources to reinvest in patient care and other critical functions.
100% Chart Coverage
The jump from <10% to 100% coverage provided unprecedented visibility into care quality and compliance.
So compared to what we were seeing before it it really it makes you realize how much we weren't seeing and how much room that there is to make a change from now that we're seeing from a wider lens now. - Megan, Compliance Nurse
Proactive Compliance
The organization shifted from reactive firefighting to proactive improvement. Hospice of the Chesapeake is able to provide targeted remediation to each clinician without any additional burden.
The most tangible return is on the reduced audit burden and the time that then that gives our leaders and our management to be able to support our team members in other ways that allows them to focus on what's most important quality care. - Josh Magariel, Compliance Officer
Consistency
AI eliminated the variability that comes with different human auditors, creating a realistic set of insights to act on.
I think the most frustrating thing about doing audits manually would be two things. First being that we would notice differences between different auditors. And so we weren't convinced our audits, even if they were being done, were 100% accurate. - Megan, Compliance Nurse
Risk Mitigation
Comprehensive auditing drastically reduced both clinical and financial risk.
Now we can forecast our needs, we can tailor education needs to what we know clinicians that we're hiring need to know from the hiring point forward. you're really moving your education to a whole new level. Our 100% compliance equals less audits from Medicare to in a hundred percent compliance. So DART has mitigated a risk both financially and clinically drastically. - Monica, Chief Strategy & Information Officer
Better Accreditation Response
Prior to DART, Hospice of the Chesapeake had to manually audit at the prescribed percentage per their plan of correction. With DART, they can automatically start checking for the survey deficiencies across the entire company - deeply tracking how the plan of correction in action is working.
DART helps us meet the challenge of accreditation by being able to do the work that 100 people could not do and it helps us to identify what we need to focus on to always be survey ready. Allie Bolen, Quality Nurse
The Real Win: More Time for What Matters
Beyond the metrics, the most meaningful outcome is what clinicians can now do with their time.
The most tangible return is on the reduced audit burden and the time that then that gives our leaders and our management to be able to support our team members in other ways that allows them to focus on what's most important quality care. - Josh, Compliance Officer
By automating chart auditing, Dart freed staff to focus on their true calling: educating clinicians to better provide compassionate care at life's most difficult moments. Better work-life balance for staff, more quality time with patients -exactly what hospice care should be.
About Hospice of the Chesapeake
Hospice of the Chesapeake is the largest independent hospice in Maryland, serving four diverse counties. For over 45 years, the organization delivers compassionate end-of-life care to every patient regardless of ability to pay, while leveraging innovative technology to set new standards for the industry.
