Sutter Health sets plans for massive Epic EMR rollout

After lots of internal struggles, sprawling northern California health system Sutter Health has set firm plans to roll out an enterprise EMR over over the next eight years. Beginning with Burlingame, CA-based Peninsula Medical Center, Sutter will implement an Epic EMR system by 2011 at six of its highest-volume hospitals. It will then roll out Epic in its remaining 15 hospitals over the following four years, hopefully completing everything by 2015. The rollout is being driven, in part, by a new key player, California Pacific Medical Center CIO Jerry Padavano, which Sutter named as its EMR "transformation vice president" earlier this year.

Nobody knows exactly how much the project will cost, but it's going to be expensive. At first blush, Sutter execs thought the implementation would cost $150 million, but now they're pegging it at $450 million to $500 million--and heaven knows that cost overruns are possible over the life of a massive multi-year project.

To find out more about the Epic rollout at Sutter:
- read this Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal piece [1]

Related Articles:
Case study: U of Chicago plans $70 million, Epic-based EMR overhaul. Report [2]
Epic troubles at Kaiser -- a look at the issues. Editorial [3]