Unlocking Procurement’s AI Front Door with SSM Health

What happens when 40,000 employees across 23 hospitals and nearly 300 outpatient centers all need something from procurement?

At SSM Health, it used to mean overflowing inboxes, endless back-and-forth, and more than a few frustrated stakeholders. Intake was messy, requests came from every direction, and the sourcing team spent more time untangling chaos than focusing on strategic work.

That all changed when they built and launched an AI-powered Front Door experience.

In just eight weeks, SSM Health launched a centralized intake experience on Levelpath. Now, over 250 contract requests a month flow through a single entry point that automatically guides each one to the right place. The system handles triage, routing, and clarification with no extra burden on the team.

But this is not just a story about improving forms or saving time. It is about what happens when procurement steps into the future and chooses to lead.

To understand the impact, it helps to know who we are talking about.

Picture a mission-driven healthcare system that stretches across the Midwest. SSM Health serves millions of patients through 23 hospitals and more than 290 outpatient facilities. Its headquarters are in St. Louis, Missouri, but its reach goes far beyond that.

Supporting all of this is a procurement team made up of just 20 people.

This small but mighty group manages over 4.6 billion dollars in spend. They oversee 4,500 contracts and handle hundreds of new requests every month. In a single month, they create 589 procurement projects.

The team operates in a centralized, hybrid structure and is responsible for everything from sourcing and supplier engagement to category strategy. They move quickly, stay aligned, and do not waste time reinventing the wheel.

So how does a lean team like that manage such a massive workload?

They work smart. And they brought in AI to help them work even smarter.

Before Levelpath, SSM Health’s procurement intake felt more like triage in an ER than a structured process.

Requests were coming in from every direction. Emails. Messages. Spreadsheets. Some landed in the right hands, but many did not. There was no clear entry point, no standard routing, and no easy way for requesters to track what was happening.

Rachel Kegel, Director of Sourcing Operations, described it simply.

“We had a system, technically. But intake was still a mess. People didn’t know where to go or what to submit, and our team spent too much time cleaning things up instead of getting work done.”

The ripple effects were constant.

• Requests went to the wrong people
  
• Approvals stalled without clear visibility
  
• Stakeholders were confused and frustrated
  
• The sourcing team was overwhelmed
  

And with over 250 contract requests every month, that kind of friction added up quickly.

Rachel and her team decided to flip the model.

Instead of chasing down requests and rerouting them manually, they would build a single entry point. A front door that made the process easy for stakeholders and manageable for sourcing. One place to go, one smart system that handled the rest.

Using Levelpath, they created a centralized intake experience powered by AI. No developers were required or major IT lift. Just thoughtful design and a clear goal: to make procurement intake feel as seamless as possible.

“Now, even if someone types ‘I’m not sure what I need,’ the system helps them figure it out and get to the right place. That used to take hours. Now it takes seconds.”

With the new AI Front Door in place, requesters no longer had to guess where to go. They simply entered a few words in plain language and were guided to the right form, policy, or person and sourcing could finally breathe.

Step 1: Talk to Real People

Before building anything, Rachel listened.

She interviewed frequent and occasional requesters to understand their confusion. She asked her sourcing team what kind of requests were wasting their time or falling through the cracks.

“We started by asking, what’s working, what’s not, and what do we wish people knew before they sent a request?”

That insight helped shape the foundation of the intake experience.

Step 2: Build Logic That Works

Using Levelpath’s no-code designer, Rachel grouped request types, assigned ownership, and created smart routing based on language and taxonomy. The AI could then recognize the intent of a request and send it to the right place automatically.

“Levelpath’s AI isn’t guessing. It’s following the logic we gave it. That’s why it works so well.”

Step 3: Launch Quickly, Improve Often

Instead of trying to perfect everything up front, Rachel’s team launched a basic version and refined it as they went.

“We gave ourselves room to learn. If we noticed a pattern, we made a change. Sometimes I update the system the night before we go live. It takes 15 minutes.”

The front door evolved in real time. And the results started showing up almost immediately.

Since launching their AI Front Door, SSM Health’s sourcing team has seen real, measurable results.

• They doubled their project output
• Successfully eliminated misrouted requests
• Provided 100% visibility for requesters

“I’m not a developer. I don’t code. I built this entire thing using drag and drop.”

What used to take hours now happens in minutes. What used to frustrate people now builds trust. And the sourcing team finally has time to focus on strategic work instead of putting out fires.

What SSM Health built with Levelpath is impressive. But what it represents is even more important.

The days of procurement just being about savings have been long gone, we saw the strategic shift to becoming a partner in how the business operates and scale come 10+ years ago. And now Generative AI is accelerating that shift.

Right now, most organizations are only beginning to explore what GenAI can do. According to McKinsey’s 2025 State of AI report, 71 percent of companies are using generative AI in at least one part of the business. But only 1 percent feel they are doing it well.

That gap is where procurement has a real opportunity.

Tools like Levelpath make it possible to use AI in a way that delivers both immediate efficiency and long-term strategic value. According to Boston Consulting Group, AI can reduce procurement costs by up to 45 percent and eliminate up to 30 percent of repetitive work for stakeholders.

Think about that.

AI that can generate RFx documents from a simple prompt. AI that can summarize supplier responses, route requests to the right workflow, flag risk in contracts, and shorten decision cycles from days to minutes.

This is not some far off future. It is happening now and early movers like SSM Health are proving what is possible.

“This experience has helped the business understand what actually goes into a contract,” Rachel said. “And they trust us more now, because the process is clear.”

Rachel’s journey offers a playbook for teams looking to bring AI into procurement in a real, usable way.

Here are a few lessons that stood out:

Start small and launch quickly
You do not need to wait for a perfect build. Get a version out, see how it works, and refine it as you go.

Design with confused users in mind
The best systems are built around the questions people are afraid to ask. Make the process feel approachable, even for first-time requesters.

Use AI to create space, not just speed
The biggest value is not just faster routing. It is creating time for sourcing to focus on strategy, supplier innovation, and alignment with the business.

Track outcomes and tell the story
Request volume, cycle time, stakeholder feedback. These numbers make the case to keep investing and expanding.

Think beyond intake
Rachel’s team is already applying AI to areas like Master Data Management. Once people get used to the clarity, they want it everywhere.

The opportunity for procurement is right in front of us.

AI is not just a trend. It is a new toolset that can remove friction, build trust, and create more space for the work that really matters.

If you are ready to see what an AI Front Door could look like for your team, we would love to show you.

Watch the full AI Masterclass or book a personalized walkthrough to see Levelpath in action.

– Sibel