Koda Health launches Compass for goals-of-care conversations

Koda Health on September 22, 2026 introduced Koda Compass, an AI-native intelligence layer designed to identify patients who need advance care planning, reach them through the right channel, and verify their preferences before writing them into the chart. The company says the system is aimed at value-based care organizations facing growing pressure to document goals of care as CMS makes advance care planning a reported quality measure.

Why it matters: - More than 70% of American adults do not have documented care preferences. - That gap contributes to an estimated $200 billion in annual spending on unwanted care. - Advance care planning is now a reported, publicly displayed hospital quality measure. - Health systems and health plans need a way to find the right patients, reach them before a crisis, and keep preferences current.

What happened: - Koda Health launched Koda Compass, the intelligence layer behind its AI-powered advance care planning platform. - The rollout was announced September 22, 2026, in Houston. - Compass is Koda’s first AI-native infrastructure for value-based care. - The first use case is advance care planning and palliative navigation.

The details: - Compass identifies which patients need an advance care planning conversation. - The system determines when and how to reach those patients. - Compass verifies that patient goals and preferences are understood before writing them into a legally valid advance care plan. - The platform runs continuously in Koda’s HIPAA-compliant environment. - Compass connects to data a partner already has, including admission, discharge and transfer feeds, labs, prescriptions and referrals. - Predictive models score each patient for clinical risk and receptivity, or the likelihood of engaging with outreach. - About 90% of members complete guided digital ACP through text, voice AI and email. - Patients with serious illness or complex needs escalate to KodaCares, Koda Health’s patient advocates with backgrounds in social work and nursing. - Key capabilities include continuous signal monitoring, predictive risk and receptivity modeling, multi-channel language-aware outreach, human-in-the-loop escalation, verified EHR write-back, and comprehension and alignment verification through Teach Back and Goal-Concordant Care Score. - Completed preferences and medical decision-maker selections write back into the EHR as verified, chart-ready documentation. - A change in condition triggers escalated outreach immediately so preferences can be revisited when clinical decisions are being made. - CMS finalized the Advance Care Planning eCQM in the FY 2027 IPPS rule. - CMS adopted the measure into the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program, the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program, and the PCH Quality Reporting Program for the 11 PPS-exempt cancer hospitals.

Between the lines: - Koda is positioning Compass as infrastructure for a broader value-based care problem, not just an advance care planning workflow. - Advance care planning is the hardest starting point because the plan must hold up over months or years and often involves multiple stakeholders. - The company is betting that continuous signal monitoring and verified write-back can replace one-time forms that quickly become stale. - Koda says the same infrastructure could extend to other programs where organizations need to detect changes in patient status and act before costs rise. - CEO and Co-Founder Dr. Tatiana Fofanova said an advance directive signed years ago may not reflect what a patient with progressing illness wants today. - CTO Anthony Comito said the system was built to respond immediately when a patient’s risk changes, rather than waiting for a scheduled check-in. - Partners using Koda’s full digital engagement suite reached nearly twice the ACP completion rate in their first 100 days as partners using a minimal workflow in comparable populations. - Koda says third-party validated outcomes include a 79% reduction in terminal hospitalizations, a 38% reduction in ICU utilization and a 19% reduction in total cost of care.

What's next: - Koda plans to extend the Compass infrastructure beyond advance care planning to other value-based care programs. - The company is aiming for earlier intervention when a patient’s condition changes, with verified preferences available in the chart at the point of care. - Koda Health directs readers to the company’s website for more information.

The bottom line: - Koda Compass is designed to turn advance care planning from a static document into a continuously updated clinical workflow.