CHA, Ronald McDonald House Global Launch Data Initiative to Improve Health Outcomes for Children

WASHINGTON, D.C., and CHICAGO — Today, Children’s Hospital Association (CHA) and Ronald McDonald House Global announced a first-of-its-kind partnership to enhance how its programs meet the needs of families throughout their child’s health care journey.

Through this collaboration, CHA has developed a new Demand and Service Planning Dashboard that integrates data from the Association’s Pediatric Health Information System® (PHIS) and Inpatient Essentials — robust databases tracking clinical and resource-utilization data across approximately 70 leading children’s hospitals — with the Ronald McDonald House Global planning tools. The dashboard will help select Ronald McDonald House Chapters engage in more strategic discussions with their hospital partners, tailor their program services, and anticipate demand to better serve local communities.

“This partnership is a step toward our vision of a connected national network improving children’s health and well-being,” said Matthew Cook, CEO of CHA. “By taking a data-driven approach, we can help ensure that every patient and family receives the right care and support at the right time.”

PHIS supports a broad range of member hospital improvement initiatives, and this marks the first time such data will be used to help a global nonprofit optimize family-support programs across select communities in the U.S.

“Research from the University of Maryland, Baltimore shows Ronald McDonald House provides nearly 90 percent of all pediatric-only temporary housing for families in the United States,” said Katie Fitzgerald, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ronald McDonald House Global. “However, we estimate that Ronald McDonald House is only meeting 55 percent of current demand for our services in the U.S. Having access to this data through the Children’s Hospital Association will allow us to make even better data-driven decisions around how we strategically close the demand gap for our services.”

Through their network of more than 250 Chapters in over 60 countries and regions, Ronald McDonald House provides essential services that remove barriers, strengthen families, and promote healing when children need health care. Their programs enable families to stay close to pediatric hospitals and care teams, ensuring they can be present and actively involved in their child’s care.