Contra Costa County Medical Group Joins With Sutter Connect To Upgrade IT Capacity
Contra Costa County's East County Medical Group has entered a five-year contract with Sutter Connect, a provider of billing and administrative services for health care organizations, as part of an effort to streamline operations and increase use of information technology, the Contra Costa Times reports. As part of the deal, the 38-physician practice will gain access to IT applications that it would not have been able to afford otherwise, according to the Times. Among the new services, Sutter Connect will take over electronic billing for East County Medical's 25,000 patients and their insurers and provide an electronic scheduling system, which will eventually allow patients to schedule appointments online. The contract does not alter how authorizations for hospital stays, surgeries or other procedures are handled, according to Dr. Gerry Del Rio, the group's medical director. Future system upgrades will allow physicians to access patient information electronically and perform remote consultations, East County Medical officials say (Ramsey, Contra Costa Times, 12/20).
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