Hona works alongside Neostella. Neostella stays your system of record, and Hona does the follow-up. Hona pulls in each case, its client, its stage and its team from Neostella. Lia, Hona's AI case agent, then runs your firm's playbooks for treatment follow-up, provider bills and records, and client updates. Every text, note and file logs back to the case in Neostella.
What is Neostella, and where does Hona fit?
Neostella is cloud case management software for high-volume practices, including personal injury and mass tort. Firms use it for cases, documents, intake, tasks, workflow automation and reporting, and it offers an open API for connected tools. Neostella is a separate product from Assembly Neos, and Hona has a separate integration for each.
Neostella records the work on a case. Hona does the work that keeps a pre-litigation case moving: reminding clients about appointments, chasing provider offices, answering status questions and sending stage updates. Your team keeps working in Neostella, and Hona writes the results back.
How does Hona connect to Neostella?
Your firm creates API credentials in Neostella, a Client ID and a Client Secret, and a Hona admin enters them in Hona. Hona checks them with Neostella before it saves them. From then on, Hona reads your cases and writes client activity back to them.
Neostella stays the source of truth. If a client's phone number or a case detail differs between the two systems, the Neostella value replaces the Hona value on the next sync.
What syncs between Neostella and Hona?
| Data | Direction | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| Cases (Neostella projects) that are Hona Enabled | Neostella → Hona | Hona projects, sorted into project types by case type |
| Project stage | Neostella → Hona | The case phase and the client's case tracker |
| The client: name, email, phone, date of birth, language and notification preference, plus contacts from case sections you map | Neostella → Hona | Contacts on the case, each with a role |
| People and roles on the case's Access tab | Neostella → Hona | The team shown on the case |
| Custom fields you map | Neostella → Hona | Matching fields in Hona |
| Text messages, Lia's included | Hona → Neostella | Notes on the case, in one running note or one note per message |
| Notification history and form submissions | Hona → Neostella | One note each, such as "Hona Notification," "Hona: " followed by the update's subject, or "Hona: Form Submission" followed by the form name |
| AI Receptionist call summaries for existing clients | Hona → Neostella | A note titled "Hona: Phone Call with" followed by the caller's name and number |
| Client files from texts, forms and e-signatures | Hona → Neostella | Documents on the case, described "Uploaded from Hona" |
| Form answers | Hona → Neostella | The Neostella fields you map them to |
| Playbook updates | Hona → Neostella | Neostella records, when your firm wants Lia to update them |
| New leads from the AI Receptionist or website chatbot, through a lead automation | Hona → Neostella | New intake leads in Neostella, with a linked client contact |
How often does Hona sync with Neostella?
Once your integration is Active, Hona syncs with Neostella overnight and picks up the cases that changed. A larger catch-up sync runs over the weekend. Client updates triggered by an overnight sync go out the next day, not in the middle of the night.
The overnight sync runs on weeknights, and the catch-up sync runs on the weekend. Neostella does not send changes to Hona in real time.
When a client needs an update right away, open the case in Hona, click the sync icon in the case header, and confirm. A manual sync can move the case to a new phase, which may send the client an update.
What is a Hona playbook?
A playbook is your firm's standard operating procedure, written so Lia can run it. Each one says when it starts, such as a stage change in Neostella or a text from a client, what Lia does, and when it stops. Escalation rules sit inside the playbook in plain language.
Write an escalation rule the way you would say it: "Escalate to the case owner, high priority, when the client mentions a new injury."
Playbooks are available now. Hona ships standard playbooks for care coordination, provider follow-up and escalations, and Hona's forward-deployed team builds custom playbooks with your firm. Your staff can read and change any playbook in plain language.
How do Lia and playbooks work alongside Neostella in pre-litigation?
Neostella holds the case. Hona does the follow-up at each step and logs it back, so your team sees the whole history in one place.
Intake
Hona's AI Receptionist answers calls around the clock in 31 languages, screens new injury callers, and sends your team a transcript and summary of every call. When a caller matches an existing client, the call summary is saved as a note on their Neostella case. For new callers, a lead automation can create an intake lead in Neostella with the Neostella lead fields you choose, and add the caller as a linked client contact, so nobody types the lead in twice.
Treatment follow-up
Lia's care coordination playbook texts and emails clients appointment reminders, follows up after each visit to confirm the client went, and picks up any new providers. When your firm turns calling on, she can call a client to schedule an appointment. Between visits, she checks in. If a client misses an appointment and can't be reached, or mentions symptoms they are not getting treated, Lia escalates to the case team with the reason, what she already tried and a priority. Every text, Lia's included, logs to the case in Neostella, so a case manager can read the full conversation without leaving Neostella.
Provider bills and records
Lia's provider follow-up playbook emails provider offices to confirm attendance and request itemized charges, balances, billing codes, letter of protection status and medical records. She uses the client's signed HIPAA authorization and keeps following up until the office responds. Results post to the Treatment tab in Hona, and when your firm wants, Lia updates the Neostella record as part of the playbook.
Client updates when the stage changes
When a case moves to a new stage in Neostella, the next sync moves the matching phase in Hona. Hona updates the client's case tracker, sends the update your firm wrote for that stage, and starts the playbook for that phase. Clients read the update by text with a link, no app required, and Lia answers "where's my case?" texts from your FAQs at any hour. Each update logs to the case in Neostella as a note.
Each of those notes starts with the type of event, such as a phase change or a drip message, and ends with a link back to the case in Hona.
Settlement payouts
Hona Disbursements, powered by Confido Legal, pays the client, medical providers, lien holders and other vendors from Hona. Drafting a payout and approving it are separate permissions, and an approver at your firm releases every payout. The client gets a secure link in the same text thread, verifies their identity, and chooses an instant payout to a debit card or free direct deposit. Payout status is recorded on the case.
Closing out
The jobs are to ask for a review and measure how the client felt about the case.
- Review requests and NPS surveys go out automatically when a case reaches the phase you choose.
- A reputation dashboard tracks the results.
How do you set up Hona with Neostella?
- Get API credentials. A Neostella admin at your firm creates a Client ID and a Client Secret for Hona.
- Connect. A Hona admin goes to Company Settings, then Integrations, clicks Connect on the Neostella tile and enters both values. Hona checks them with Neostella before it saves them.
- Map your fields. With Hona's onboarding team, map the case name, case type to project type, stage to phase, and the client's contact fields. Add any case sections that hold extra contacts, such as additional plaintiffs. The Hona Enabled field decides which cases sync.
- Name things to match. Each case type value must match the name of a Hona project type. Hona can load your Neostella stages in order to help you set up phases. Contact roles match Hona contact roles by name, ignoring capital letters, and a contact whose role has no match comes in without a role.
- Match team roles. Set up team roles in Hona that match the roles on your Neostella Access tab.
- Choose how texts log. Keep one running "Hona Messages" note per case, with the newest message first and each entry stamped with the time in your firm's time zone, or log each text as its own note titled "Hona Outbound Message" or "Hona Incoming Message," with a Neostella note type your firm picks. Tell the Hona team which you want, and they set it.
- Set up lead automations, if you want. To send new leads to Neostella, connect the NeoStella Leads tile with its own Client ID and Client Secret, then add the NeoStella: Create Intake step to a lead automation.
- Pick your playbooks. Start with the standard playbooks, and work with the forward-deployed team on custom ones.
- Test, then go live. While the integration is Inactive, nothing goes to clients and you test cases with manual syncs. When you are ready, Hona's team sets it to Active.
How does Hona keep your team in control?
Lia works alongside your staff, never around them.
- Lia tells clients she is an AI.
- Lia texts and emails clients, and she can call a client to schedule an appointment when your firm turns calling on.
- She never gives legal advice, medical advice, or an opinion on case value or settlement. She escalates those questions, and any client in distress.
- Lia's proactive messages go out only between 9am and 7pm in your firm's time zone, and in the client's when it is known. Lia answers incoming texts at any hour.
- Your team can review Lia's work, pause her, or take over any conversation.
- Lia updates Neostella records only as part of a playbook, and only when your firm wants her to.
- Setting Hona Enabled to No on a case stops Hona's automatic updates to that client. The case stays in Hona and keeps syncing, and your team can still text the client.
- Hona is SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA compliant.
The takeaway
Keep Neostella. It is the record of every case, and it is good at that. Add Hona to do the follow-up a record cannot: reach out first, keep clients in treatment, chase provider offices, and hand your team what needs a person. Every text, note and file lands back on the case in Neostella. Your playbooks already describe the work. Lia runs them.
Book a demo to see Lia run your playbooks on cases from Neostella.
Frequently asked questions
Does Hona replace Neostella?
No. Neostella stays your system of record for cases, documents and tasks. Hona does the client and provider follow-up and writes the results back to the case, so your team keeps working in Neostella.
What syncs between Hona and Neostella?
Cases, stages, contacts and the Access tab team come in from Neostella, along with any fields you map. Texts, Lia's included, notification history, form submissions and AI Receptionist call summaries go back as notes, client files arrive as documents, form answers can update fields on the case, and Lia can update Neostella records as part of a playbook when your firm wants her to.
How do Hona texts show up in Neostella?
By default, Hona keeps one "Hona Messages" note on each case, newest message first, with a link back to the case in Hona. Your firm can instead log each text as its own note and give those notes a Neostella note type, such as "Hona SMS".
Who shows up on the Hona team for a case?
The people your firm assigns on the case's Access tab in Neostella, each with their Neostella role. You do not need to assign the team a second time in Hona.
Can Hona send new leads to Neostella?
Yes. With the NeoStella Leads tile connected, a lead automation can create an intake lead in Neostella from each caller the AI Receptionist or your website chatbot captures, with the lead fields you choose and the caller as a linked client contact.
How do we stop Hona updates for one client?
Set Hona Enabled to No on that case. Hona keeps the case and keeps syncing it, but stops automatic updates for it, such as stage updates and drip messages. Set it back to Yes to start them again.
Does Lia give legal or medical advice?
No. Lia never gives legal advice, medical advice, or an opinion on case value or settlement. She tells clients she is an AI and sends those questions to your team.
Is Neostella the same as Assembly Neos?
No. Neostella and Assembly Neos are separate case management systems, and Hona has a separate integration for each.
