Sutter Health's '2009 Report to Our Communities' Online

SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Sutter Health's annual report is now available for viewing at www.SutterHealth.org/annualreport. The electronic publication explores how the not-for-profit network's coordinated approach to patient care helped create efficiencies that improved health care quality and access.

Some notable highlights from 2009 include:

• Sutter Health's affiliated physician organizations were among the first in the country to adopt e-prescribing—a patient safety system recommended by the Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services
• Aggressive infection prevention efforts in hospitals across Sutter Health helped saved 63 lives
• The system committed more than $11 million to community health clinics to help keep their doors open  
• A new consumer website—MyLifeStages.org—was launched, connecting women with health information, Sutter-affiliated doctors and more.  
• Sutter Health installed its first hospital-based electronic health record system.  

Sutter Health has produced an online annual report since 2006 and is a national leader in this growing trend toward paperless reporting. Transitioning from a printed to an online publication expands audience access to Sutter Health information and has spared nearly 50 trees. To view Sutter's complete advancements in quality, patient safety, access, affordability and more, visit the "2009 Report to Our Communities" at www.SutterHealth.org/annualreport.

LINKS

Learn more about Sutter Health's advancements in health care quality.  

See how Sutter Health is helping to make health care more affordable.  

Details about Sutter's commitment to our communities.

About Sutter Health

Serving patients and their families in more than 100 Northern California cities and towns, Sutter Health doctors, not-for-profit hospitals and other health care service providers share resources and expertise to advance health care quality and access. The Sutter Medical Network includes many of California's top-performing, highest quality physician organizations, as measured annually by the Integrated Healthcare Association. Sutter-affiliated hospitals are regional leaders in cardiac care, women's and children's services, cancer care, orthopedics and advanced patient safety technology.

For more information about the not-for-profit Sutter Health network, please visit

SutterHealth.org/about/ | www.Facebook.com/SutterHealth | www.YouTube.com/SutterHealth

SOURCE Sutter Health