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By Laton McCartney
It's the kind of email that CIOs dread writing. On May 19, Sutter Health chief information officer Jon Manis informed 121 employees based at Sutter's IS facility in Rancho Cordova, Calif. that they would lose their jobs on July 17, 2009.
"This decision was one of the most difficult I've ever had to make," Manis said in a prepared statement. "These are dedicated and talented professionals who have provided tremendous value to our organization. Unfortunately, these staffing changes are necessary. We have a higher responsibility now more than ever to our patients who pay for healthcare to be good stewards and to keep our services affordable."
Unfortunately, the cutbacks at Sutter are symptomatic of a larger crisis affecting the healthcare industry. While President Obama wants to invest billions into healthcare IT, hospitals across the country have had to lay off technology staff and cut IT projects. It's one of the ironies of the recession: the President's stimulus package is meant to invest billions into such projects as digitizing health records, but hospitals are putting such planned initiatives on the shelf as they attempt to deal with more critical priorities.
Sutter Health, for example, announced its own electronic health record (EHR) initiative as early as 2004, committing $154 million to the project. Once completed, the initiative would electronically connect more than 5,000 physicians, 25 hospitals and millions of patients across its Northern California network. In February of 2007, Sutter reaffirmed its commitment to the project, announcing plans to invest a further $300 million in the project.
Now, Manis is having to reevaluate those plans along with all other technology initiatives.
Sutter Health and its affiliated hospitals and physician organizations employ approximately 1,500 IS staff in Sacramento and other communities around Northern California. Sutter decided to release employees affected by staffing reductions on May 19 to give them the next two months paid, before severance benefits begin, so they can focus on finding new job opportunities.
A number of the affected positions support Sutter Health's EHR initiative. Sutter recently implemented its first hospital-based EHR in Burlingame. However, due to the economic downturn, the organization said hospital-based installations will not resume until sometime after 2009. Sutter does plan to accelerate the completion of its EHR rollout to affiliated physician organizations where approximately 80% of health care services are delivered today.
Sutter Health remains committed to implementing a single, integrated EHR across the care Continuum, Sutter spokeswoman Kami Lloyd says. Sutter has fully implemented the EHR system in five of its eight affiliated physician organizations (medical foundations), further connecting more than 2,000 physicians in the coordinated care of patients across much of Northern California. The Sutter-wide EHR now encompasses information about the care of more than 1 million patients. More than 200,000 patients are accessing their personal health records online.
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