Sutter Medical Foundation Achieves Elite Status from Physician Association     05-14-2010

Medical groups affiliated with Sutter Medical Foundation earned "elite status" today in The California Association of Physician Group's fourth annual Standards of Excellence (SOE) Program survey. The SOE survey is the first known voluntary, large scale, critical self-assessment for medical groups in the United States.

The SOE survey measures physician group capability in four key elements of patient care:

• Health Information Technology - electronic registries to support chronic care, preventive care, professional communication and advanced electronic record systems
• Care Management Practices - inpatient and outpatient systems to support physicians and patients to achieve reliability, safety and affordability
• Accountability and Transparency - participation in measuring and public reporting, including compliance with stringent fiscal responsibility regulations of California
• Patient-centered Care - features to accommodate individualized patient needs and preferences, embracing a responsible role in a culturally diverse community

Groups surpassing a scoring threshold in an element received a "star," with the potential to achieve a total of four stars. Groups that receive four stars are ranked as "elite;" three stars as "exemplary;" two stars as "commendable;" and one star as "meritorious." Groups that submit data, but don't meet any criteria are deemed "participants." Sutter Medical Foundation, which includes Sutter Independent Physicians, Sutter Medical Group, Sutter Neuroscience Medical Group and Sutter West Medical Group, received four stars and elite status.

"We're honored to receive this distinction," said Tom Blinn, CEO, Sutter Medical Foundation. "I'm truly proud of the hard work and dedication from our clinicians that earned us this ranking. We have excellent support so we should have the basic infrastructure needed to move to the next generation of health care."

The data provided by the SOE program enhances the partnership between health care providers and patients, which will in turn result in enhanced service, quality and patient safety - primary focus areas of Sutter Medical Foundation and its affiliated medical groups.