Mercy Awarded Funding to Expand AI-driven Smart-Texting Program
Summary
ST. LOUIS, April 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercy has been approved for a four-year funding award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) through its Health Systems Implementation Initiative (HSII) to expand Mercys successful AI-driven, electronic patient-reported monitoring platform in select cancer patients to all those ages 18 and up undergoing chemotherapy.In addition to expanding access to a broader age group, Mercys award-winning Chen Chemotherapy Model will be enhanced to include more diagnoses to go beyond symptoms and include three additional areas that impact health and well-being physical function, behavioral health and health-related social needs. It will also expand the text-based model to incorporate automated phone system and/or MyMercy messages for patients who do not respond to texting. "This project will implement findings from a PCORI-funded patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness study demonstrating improved symptom control, physical function and health-related quality of life among patients who completed electronic patient-reported outcome surveys compared with those who received usual care. With development well underway, this program is scheduled to be available to patients in January 2026.Mercy has been part of PCORIs Health Systems Implementation Initiative (HSII) since February 2023 following a PCORI funding opportunity that sought HSII participants to promote evidence-based practice based on findings generated from PCORI-funded, patient-centered clinical effectiveness research (CER). The HSII, with 42 health systems participating, aims to reduce the estimated 17-year gap between evidence publication and clinical application.