KATE AI: A New Partner in Emergency Triage

Triaging — assessing where patients go and how quickly they are seen — is one of the most critical decisions an emergency nurse makes. When Ken Shanahan, MSN, RN, CCRN, Senior Director of Emergency Medicine and Behavioral Health, joined UMass Memorial Health after the first COVID-19 wave, nurses were facing overcrowding, staff shortages and boarding crises.

A solution to help: a pilot of KATE AI, a machine-learning tool built into Epic. It works quietly in the background, reads nurses’ notes, spots potential errors and suggests when a patient may need urgent care quickly. In a case of sepsis, for example, KATE AI analyzes nearly 200 indicators to identify at-risk patients before lab results arrive, allowing treatment to start sooner.

In 2025, UMass Memorial expanded KATE AI to five more of our hospital emergency departments, bringing the total to seven — to enhance patient safety, optimize efficiency and support frontline nurses. This expansion builds on the successful pilot program launched in February 2023 at UMass Memorial Medical Center

“If we didn’t tell anyone it was there, you wouldn’t even know,” Ken said of the KATE AI software. “But when KATE disagrees, it pops up with the probability and explains why.”

On day one KATE AI showed its value by flagging an undiagnosed issue, alerting a nurse to quickly shift course. Since then, it has continued to improve our assessment process: offering alternative assessments about particular patients when needed and validating staff decisions on complex cases. “Nine times out of ten, KATE agrees with the nurse,” Ken said. “But when it doesn’t, its perspective can help improve clinical decisions.”

Regarding this year’s successful expansion across the system, Ken noted that with hospital closures and federal changes, emergency departments remain a critical access point.

“Improving flow and accuracy is critical for the success of emergency departments (EDs) in this country,” he said. By creating smoother patient flow, KATE AI also helps reduce wait times — a significant challenge in Massachusetts, one of the states with the highest ED visit rates. •