Artificial intelligence is transforming hospital operations and enhancing patient outcomes, and Children’s Mercy Kansas City is part of that innovation. Alongside U.S. Representative Sharice Davids (D-KS-03), the ITI Institute recently visited the hospital’s Patient Progression Hub to see firsthand how predictive analytics, AI, and real-time data reshape pediatric care. The visit concluded with a discussion among hospital leadership and local experts about the future of AI in healthcare.
The Patient Progression Hub at Children’s Mercy is leveraging AI to predict patient surges, optimize staffing, and streamline admissions and discharges. The technology helps identify when children can move safely between levels of care, allowing the hospital to create new capacity without adding beds. The hospital can allocate resources proactively with predictive tools that can forecast census surges up to two weeks in advance with 95% accuracy.
Within the first year, Children’s Mercy saw measurable results. Before implementing these systems, Children’s Mercy had to turn away over 100 pediatric patients annually due to capacity constraints. Over the past year, that number dropped by 98%. The Patient Progression Hub also decreased deferrals by 94%, decreased delayed admissions by 86%, decreased emergency department boarding by 99%, and decreased cancelled surgeries by 87%.
Children’s Mercy is using AI to optimize operations and improve the patient and family experience, particularly for rural communities. The hospital’s centralized transfer center allows local physicians to reach specialists and transport teams in minutes, enabling faster, more coordinated care. In many cases, AI-supported triage prevents unnecessary hospitalizations by guiding care remotely, saving families time, money, and stress.
The Hub provides physicians a more holistic view of the patient. As Senior VP & Chief Nursing Officer at Children’s Mercy shared, “It gives us a complete look at the patient as well as the surrounding community. We’re looking at the entire patient flow instead of just a piece of it.”
The hospital has a technology transparency statement that outlines its use of AI and advanced tools in patient care. The statement empowers families to ask informed questions and reflects the hospital’s commitment to openness. Hospital leaders understand that patients deserve to know when and how AI is being used and what safeguards are in place to ensure its responsible application.
Children’s Mercy is sharing its model with other children’s hospitals and working with hospitals across Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, and Nebraska to explore a regional pediatric disaster response network. The hospital’s leadership has also open-sourced components of their geospatial data infrastructure, which are now being implemented at institutions like The University of Kansas Medical Center and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
By combining predictive modeling and AI-powered coordination, Children’s Mercy is shaping the future of pediatric care by integrating AI and other technologies into healthcare responsibly.
Children’s Mercy Kansas City’s Patient Progression Hub exemplifies how AI and data-driven strategies can revolutionize hospital operations. By centralizing information and enabling proactive decision-making, the Hub improves patient care and is a model for other institutions aiming to integrate technology into healthcare delivery.
As healthcare systems continue to evolve, initiatives like the Patient Progression Hub highlight how AI is improving patient outcomes.
