The Certification of Terminal Illness (CTI) is a critical step in the hospice admission and recertification process. This guide outlines the various ways to access and complete a CTI within HospiceWorks, ensuring compliance with CMS requirements.

Accessing the CTI Dashboard

There are three primary ways to access a patient's certification dashboard:

  1. Tasks to Complete: On the patient dashboard, look for "Complete Certification (CTI)" under the Routine Care Admission section.

  2. Care Management Tab: Select the Care Management tab from the patient dashboard and click Manage Certifications.

  3. Certification Icon: An icon will appear at the top of the patient screen when a certification is due. Clicking the date range next to this icon will also take you to the dashboard.

Managing Benefit Periods

  • Benefit Period Assignment: The benefit period is initially set during admission, but it can be updated by clicking Set Benefit Period Number on the certification dashboard.

  • Period Selection: You can change the period to 1, 2, 3, or whichever is appropriate for the current certification.

Built-in Compliance Guardrails

HospiceWorks includes automated checks to ensure all required fields are complete before a certification can be signed and routed. Common missing items include:

  • Certification Effective Date.

  • Prognosis Documentation Summary.

  • Medical Director Narrative.

  • Initial Nursing Assessment: A signed assessment must be completed within the specified date range before the CTI can be finalized.

Integrating the Initial Nursing Assessment

The system can automatically pull information from the Initial Nursing Assessment into the CTI:

  • Prognosis Rationale: While completing the assessment, you can choose to flow the "Rationale" into the CTI's Prognosis Documentation Summary.

  • Eligibility Selection: In the Determination of Eligibility section of the assessment, select "Yes" to enable this data flow.

Completing the Verbal CTI Workflow

To meet the two-day CMS requirement for initial certifications, you can use the Verbal Certification workflow:

  1. Effective Date: Enter the certification effective date (typically the date of admission).

  2. Verbal Certification: Select "Yes" for "Certification was obtained verbally".

  3. Verification Details: Enter the date and time the verbal certification was obtained, and select the clinician who received it.

  4. Lock and Route: Once all fields are complete, click Lock & Route for Signature.

  5. Clinician Signature: The clinician who obtained the verbal certification can then sign the document.

Note: Even after a verbal CTI is signed by the clinician, the task remains pending until the Medical Director and Attending Physician provide their narratives and signatures. These signatures are required before a claim can be submitted.


For further assistance, please contact our support team at support@hospiceworks.com.