Kansas City, Mo.-based Children’s Mercy is offering voluntary early retirement to an undisclosed number of employees, The Beacon reported June 12. The pediatric health system employs nearly 9,000 people, according to the report.
In a statement shared with Becker’s, Children’s Mercy said the offer is unrelated to its planned acute care tower expansion and that it continues to hire for roles supporting care delivery, access and critical operations.
Children’s Mercy did not provide additional information about the offer, including how many employees are eligible.
The initiative comes as the health system advances a more than $1 billion acute care tower project at its Adele Hall campus in Kansas City, Mo. The project is expected to expand overall capacity by 25% to 30% and includes a new home for the pediatric and neonatal ICUs, an expanded emergency department and a surgical center built for robotics.
“As more families across the region turn to Children’s Mercy, we are preparing for growing demand by expanding access to care,” the health system said. “This multi-year investment — including a new acute care tower and renovations to existing patient care spaces, supported in part through bonds — will increase much-needed bed capacity so we can care for more children and deliver the complex care our community relies on, now and in the future.”
Preliminary site preparation is expected to begin this fall, with construction completion targeted for 2031.
Children’s Mercy CEO Alejandro Quiroga, MD, previously told Becker’s the expansion is being driven by growing demand for pediatric specialty care and capacity constraints. Third-party assessments found the system’s existing footprint would meet only 67% of projected bed needs and 40% of projected NICU demand within five years.
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