End of life care

Hospice agency software that tracks benefit periods, assessment intervals and IDG review per patient

A hospice agency is a provider of palliative care for patients with a terminal prognosis, together with family support. Medicare certified hospices operate under conditions of participation at 42 CFR Part 418, where 42 CFR 418.54 governs initial and comprehensive assessment, the interdisciplinary group reviews the plan of care at defined intervals, and CMS runs a quality reporting programme with its own deadlines. Neurobird joins those intervals on one record across 84 patients.

418.54the section assessment timing sits under
84 patientseach with a different deadline
1 recordper patient instead of 4 calendars
A hospice nurse reviewing a patient plan of care with an interdisciplinary team at an agency office
Every chart on that table started its clock on a different day.

Neurobird Hospice Agency in short

  • Hold benefit period and recertification window against the patient rather than a shared calendar
  • Track comprehensive assessment and plan of care review on their required intervals
  • Keep interdisciplinary group review evidence with the patient it concerns
  • 418.54 The condition of participation governing initial and comprehensive assessment for hospice patients, including the window in which each must occur. 42 CFR 418.54
  • Part 418 The full set of hospice conditions of participation, covering patient rights, assessment, plan of care, interdisciplinary review and quality. 42 CFR Part 418
  • Pricing runs 179 to 899 US dollars per month across 3 tiers. Early access is free.
The daily reality

What hospice agency administrators actually deal with

Comprehensive assessment, plan of care review and the interdisciplinary group meeting each run on their own interval and none of them share a calendar.
Benefit periods and recertification windows move with the patient, so the deadline is different for every chart.
Quality reporting submissions are due whether or not the clinical record was finished on time.

Why it stays broken

Hospice compliance is a set of intervals, not a set of tasks. Assessment windows, plan of care review and interdisciplinary group meetings each recur on their own clock, per patient, and the electronic record was built to hold notes rather than to count days.

A recertification window missed by 3 days on 1 patient is a benefit period an agency cannot bill and cannot recover.

All hospice care and services offered to patients and their families must follow an individualized written plan of care (POC) that meets the patient’s needs.

CMS, hospice payment and provider information, source
What it does

Neurobird Hospice Agency Operations Platform

Make the patient the record. Benefit period, assessment window, IDG review and reporting attach to it, so the next obligation is visible rather than remembered.

  • 1Hold benefit period and recertification window against the patient rather than a shared calendar
  • 2Track comprehensive assessment and plan of care review on their required intervals
  • 3Keep interdisciplinary group review evidence with the patient it concerns
  • 4Surface quality reporting submissions before the window closes rather than after

What changes with Neurobird Hospice Agency?

The same work, read left to right: how it runs today, and how it runs once the record is in one place.

Hospice agency: current practice compared with Neurobird Hospice Agency
TodayWith Neurobird Hospice Agency
Comprehensive assessment, plan of care review and the interdisciplinary group meeting each run on their own interval and none of them share a calendarHold benefit period and recertification window against the patient rather than a shared calendar
Benefit periods and recertification windows move with the patient, so the deadline is different for every chartTrack comprehensive assessment and plan of care review on their required intervals
Quality reporting submissions are due whether or not the clinical record was finished on timeKeep interdisciplinary group review evidence with the patient it concerns

Who is this for?

Three agencies, three reasons intervals beat task lists.

Agency with 84 patients

Every chart has its own clock

Benefit period and assessment windows derived per patient, so no deadline depends on somebody remembering an admission date.

Multi team agency

IDG review is evidenced

Which patients were reviewed, when, and by whom, held against the patient rather than in meeting minutes.

Agency preparing for survey

The evidence assembles itself

Assessment timing and review history are already joined, so a survey request is answered rather than reconstructed.

Interactive preview

The agency, patient by patient

A working preview. Tick a patient to pull their intervals and review history.

neurobird / hospice
Unbilled found$0
Line itemAmount
IDG meeting, 15 day interval, 3 patients unreviewed$1,840
Face to face encounter, recert window closing$620
Patient 3312, comprehensive assessment due in 2 days$3,275
Bereavement contact, 4 families scheduled$455

Click recover to add a missed line to the invoice.

How does Neurobird Hospice Agency work?

  1. Set the clock at admission

    Benefit period and assessment windows are derived from the admission, so every later deadline follows automatically.

  2. Evidence the review, not just the meeting

    Interdisciplinary group review recorded against the patients discussed, so the evidence exists when it is asked for.

  3. Watch the reporting window

    Quality reporting submissions surface before they close rather than after the deadline has passed.

What the hospice conditions of participation actually require

Useful if you are opening an agency or preparing for survey. Each source links out.

418.54

The condition of participation governing initial and comprehensive assessment for hospice patients, including the window in which each must occur.

42 CFR 418.54
Part 418

The full set of hospice conditions of participation, covering patient rights, assessment, plan of care, interdisciplinary review and quality.

42 CFR Part 418
1 programme

CMS operates a Hospice Quality Reporting Program with submission requirements that carry consequences independent of care quality.

CMS, hospice quality reporting
1 guidance

HHS OIG publishes compliance programme guidance setting out what a provider compliance function is expected to contain.

HHS OIG
1 benefit

The Medicare hospice benefit is structured in benefit periods, each requiring recertification, which is why deadlines differ patient by patient.

CMS, hospice

Hospice agency software questions, answered

Key terms

What is a hospice agency?
A hospice agency provides palliative care to patients with a terminal prognosis, along with support for their families. Medicare certified hospices operate under the conditions of participation at 42 CFR Part 418, which govern assessment, plan of care, interdisciplinary review and quality reporting.
What does the comprehensive assessment require?
42 CFR 418.54 requires an initial assessment and then a comprehensive assessment within a defined window, updated at intervals. It is the clinical foundation the plan of care is built on, and its timing is a compliance obligation rather than a clinical preference.
What is the interdisciplinary group?
The IDG is the team responsible for the plan of care, and the conditions of participation require review at defined intervals. The review has to be evidenced, which is where most agencies lose time reconstructing meeting records.
What is the Hospice Quality Reporting Program?
CMS operates a quality reporting programme for hospices, with submission requirements attached. Missing submissions carry consequences independent of the quality of care delivered.

Does this replace our EMR?

No. Clinical documentation stays in the EMR. What lives here is the interval layer: benefit periods, assessment windows, IDG review evidence and reporting deadlines, joined per patient.

Why we are building this

Hospice compliance is arithmetic disguised as care. Assessment windows, benefit periods and interdisciplinary review all recur on fixed intervals, per patient, and every one of them starts on a different day.

The electronic record was built to hold documentation. It was not built to count days, which is why every agency also runs a whiteboard, a spreadsheet, or a very good nurse with a very good memory.

So we are building the interval layer. If you run an agency, tell us which deadline you have come closest to missing.

Neurobird Team neurobird.com

Where the requirement comes from

The rules an agency is surveyed against.

How much does Neurobird Hospice Agency cost?

Priced per agency, not per visit. A heavy census month should not cost more.

Small agency
179
per month
  • Up to 50 patients
  • Benefit period tracking
  • Assessment intervals
  • IDG review log
Join early access
Agency
429
per month
  • Up to 250 patients
  • Multi team views
  • Quality reporting alerts
  • Survey pack export
Join early access
Multi site
899
per month
  • Unlimited patients
  • Cross site rollups
  • Compliance dashboards
  • Priority support
Talk to us
6 early access places for hospice agencies

Get free early access

We are building this with Medicare certified agencies who live on interval compliance.

Straight answer on where this is: The software is in development and not purchasable today. Early access means your intervals shape the record, and you see it first.

Prefer email? Write to office@neurobird.com and a person will reply. No autoresponder.