Hospice of the Chesapeake Eliminates Audit Burden by 100%

Watch the full video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dylwnDx5rls&t=1s "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 Auditor Tool "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 Future-Proofing: The HOPE Program With the upcoming implementation of HOPE (Hospice Outcomes & Patient Evaluation), documentation requirements are changing significantly. DART is positioning Hospice of the Chesapeake to handle these new extensive auditing requirements without increasing headcount. "DART is the perfect tool to help us with HOPE compliance because it will allow us to measure through 100% of charts... whether we're meeting the regulatory standards." 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.