“We knew there weren’t many examples of what we were aiming to accomplish across the country and that there was a chance we wouldn’t reach an agreement,” Argueta said. “But we also know we need to enhance pediatric care in our region and make it locally available, so working alongside CoxHealth to evaluate options was the right place to start. I’m incredibly proud of our two teams for working together and making this issue a priority for our community, and while I’m disappointed we didn’t come to an agreement, I am pleased that we have agreed to collaborate with Children’s Mercy Kansas City to create an exceptional solution for the region that meets our primary objective, which is to provide care to our kids close to home.”
As part of the evaluation process, Mercy’s leadership team visited several health care organizations during the past year, including Children’s Mercy Kansas City.
To best gauge the community’s preference for a world-class pediatric care provider, Mercy asked Monigle, a nationally recognized brand and consumer research firm, to independently survey 300 health care decision-makers in southwest Missouri.
Consumers expressed a clear and statistically significant preference for Children’s Mercy Kansas City as the pediatric hospital partner by a 17% margin compared to other pediatric hospitals in the region. The data also showed that Children’s Mercy Kansas City had the highest awareness among pediatric hospitals surveyed, and 17% of the children in the area have received care from Children’s Mercy Kansas City in contrast to 8% who have used St. Louis Children’s and 2% who have used SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, both in St. Louis. The independent data made clear that parents and health care consumers in this region want Children’s Mercy Kansas City to be their kids care provider.
“We are excited to collaborate with Mercy to increase pediatric services in the community to ensure families have access to world-class research and innovative care close to home,” said Paul Kempinski, MS, FACHE, president and CEO, Children’s Mercy Kansas City. “By creating a pediatric system of excellence in southwest Missouri, our patients will no longer need to drive several hours for appointments and care, which will help improve access and outcomes for all the children we serve in the area. Fundamentally, this is about providing excellent care to kids in their community.”
“When we evaluated all of the providers that took part in the request for proposal, we were most impressed by Children’s Mercy Kansas City,” Moore said. “They have a long history of engaging with the community in shared decision-making, which we think makes them uniquely equipped to come to our community and provide care for our kids. They don’t simply set up shop and open their doors. They collaborate with the community, and that’s what we and parents across the region want for our kids.”