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Background
Sutter Health is a not-for-profit network of doctors and hospitals serving more than 100 communities in Northern California. Sutter has 26 acute care hospitals as well as physician training programs, medical research facilities, long-term care centers and region-wide home health, hospice and occupation health facilities. It has relationships with approximately 5,000 physicians, 44,000 employees and 5,000 volunteers.

Challenge
Build on a successful enterprise master person index (EMPI) solution to better manage disparate provider data.

Solution
Deploy Initiate software as its patient and provider record locator solution.

A growing focus on health information exchange drove the demand for interoperability between facilities, physician offices and regions. Confidentiality and privacy are essential: Patients want electronic information, but only if they can be assured that it remains secure and their privacy is protected.

Sutter required an EMPI that could link its entire, vast network with accuracy and flexibility to help achieve multiple goals, including:

• Minimizing the creation of duplicate electronic patient records and clinical charts
• Helping to eliminate duplicate tests and procedures that may not be paid by Medicare or some insurance providers
• Increasing patient safety with ready access to a patient’s full records
• Enhancing customer satisfaction, since patients don’t need to repeat their demographic information
• Streamlining business operations

Once the patient EMPI was successfully implemented, Sutter decided it was time to tackle the provider side of the network. With Initiate software, Sutter is now managing 70,000 provider records from across its system, enabling a composite view of all the data for each provider.

Multiple systems consume this provider data, including case management, quality and risk tools. Other PACS, cardiology and radiology systems also consume the data, bolstering the already-robust integrated delivery network.

Overall, Sutter Health is well on its way to achieving a robust integrated delivery network to help improve patient and provider safety and satisfaction while laying a solid foundation for future interoperability initiatives and data exchanges.

Read the full success story and the perspective of Sutter's Vice President of Information Technology and CIO of Strategic Development, Debbie Sleigh.