SACRAMENTO, CA – Sutter Health is launching an electronic health record offering – Sutter Community Connect – to qualified physicians in independent practices. The Epic-based software option expands Sutter Health’s investment in building a fully integrated EHR system.

Sutter Health officials said public polls show this type of connectivity matters to consumers as most reported they want doctors to share information with other doctors as part of serving their total health care needs,

Physicians practicing in the more than 100 Northern California communities that Sutter serves gain another EHR option as they look for affordable, easy-to-use software systems designed specifically for independent practices.

Sutter Community Connect offers a full software suite that includes a robust EHR for clinical care management and software applications for registration, scheduling and billing. This Complete EHR is 2011/2012 compliant and has been certified* by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT), an ONC-ATCB, in accordance with the applicable certification criteria for eligible providers and hospitals adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This certification does not represent an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or guarantee the receipt of incentive payments.

“Technology plays a large role in integrating services across any number of clinicians and care settings. Our patients will benefit from more seamless hand offs that can boost outcomes and efficiencies, which ultimately means more quality, affordable care,” said Jeff Burnich, MD, Senior vice president and executive officer of the Sutter Medical Network. “To truly reinvent care, we see an imperative to connect as many physicians across our network as possible by extending an EHR option to community doctors in independent practice.”

Regional hospital corporations within the Sutter Health not-for-profit network will make in-kind donations to qualifying independent physicians that cover up to 85 percent of software and related implementation costs. Sutter Physician Services, a health care management and administrative services arm of Sutter Health, will oversee the roll out of Sutter Community Connect beginning this summer.

Sutter Health has already installed an Epic-based EHR system in each of its medical foundations, and continues its systemwide acute-care implementation in affiliated hospitals. Sutter’s EHR today connects more than 12,000 caregivers serving more than one million patients in Northern California. Nearly 450,000 patients use Sutter’s online services – My Health Online – to partner with their doctors in managing their health.

Physicians practicing in the more than 100 Northern California communities that Sutter serves gain another EHR option as they look for affordable, easy-to-use software systems designed specifically for independent practices. Sutter Community Connect offers a full software suite that includes a robust EHR for clinical care management and software applications for registration, scheduling and billing.

This Complete EHR is 2011/2012 compliant and has been certified* by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT), an ONC-ATCB, in accordance with the applicable certification criteria for eligible providers and hospitals adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This certification does not represent an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or guarantee the receipt of incentive payments.