Sutter Health To Spend Additional $154 Million on Electronic Health Records
The board of not-for-profit hospital chain Sutter Health in September approved plans to spend $154 million to implement electronic health records in 27 Northern California hospitals by 2006, a move that could make it the "national leader in the race to digitize records," the San Francisco Business Times reports. Sutter's system will connect its 5,000 physicians, six medical foundations and 11 independent physician groups (Rauber, San Francisco Business Times, 10/29).
Sutter in April said it would spend $1.2 billion over the next decade to create a patient database, an electronic health records system, electronic systems for recording prescription and laboratory information, as well as an electronic archive for digital images, such as X-rays and CT scans (California Healthline, 4/23).
Patients will be able to use the system to access a secure Web site and request prescription refills, schedule appointments, view their medical histories and learn more about their medical diagnoses, the Modesto Bee reports. Patients also will be able to use the system to e-mail their physicians with questions. Physicians will be able to use the system to access patient information (Carlson, Modesto Bee, 11/1).