Driving Towards Systemness: How Sutter Health Integrates Technology, People & Process

Sutter Health’s integration efforts extend far beyond standard IT system mergers. Jacki Monson, SVP, Chief Integration Officer & Chief Privacy Officer at Sutter Health, focuses on holistic transformation—aligning people, processes, and technology across mergers and acquisitions.

“We’re not just integrating applications,” Monson said. “We’re integrating the entire ecosystem to function as one seamless operation.”

Scroll down to watch or listen to the full interview; or subscribe to healthsystemCIO on your favorite podcasting channel

Integration Beyond Technology

While IT systems play a critical role, Monson’s strategy spans organizational culture, security, and governance. “Technology is often the most complicated piece,” she explained. Sutter Health prioritizes security from day one, ensuring newly acquired entities meet the same cybersecurity standards as the parent organization.

Referring to the recent Change Healthcare cyberattack, Monson emphasized the importance of security during M&A. “They didn’t integrate security from the beginning, and that was a major vulnerability. We make sure our cybersecurity framework is in place from day one, even if full IT integration takes time.”

She also pointed out that integrating IT systems across newly acquired hospitals comes with unique challenges. “Some hospitals we’ve acquired were still using paper records, while others were on different EHR platforms. The first priority is making sure they have the necessary cybersecurity infrastructure in place, and then we work towards full integration.”

The Role of AI in Healthcare Transformation

AI is becoming an essential tool in integration efforts. Monson detailed how AI helps Sutter Health streamline operational efficiencies, including data analysis during due diligence. “We’ve been exploring AI to analyze vast amounts of data faster, allowing us to make informed integration decisions more quickly.”

She highlighted AI’s broader impact, from improving clinical documentation to reducing administrative burdens. “We recently rolled out AI-powered tools for our staff, and one colleague told me it cut down hours of work into minutes. That’s the kind of efficiency we need.”

Beyond internal efficiencies, AI is also enhancing patient care. Monson cited an example of AI-powered tools assisting physicians in analyzing medical records. “AI can surface patterns in patient data that might otherwise go unnoticed, allowing our physicians to make more informed decisions.”

Despite its benefits, Monson acknowledged that AI adoption in healthcare lags behind other industries. “AI has been part of our privacy monitoring for seven years, but many health systems are just starting to explore its potential. We need to embrace it to keep up with the rapid pace of change.”

Data Governance, Security, and Application Rationalization

Ensuring data consistency across acquisitions is a growing challenge. “We’ve acquired hospitals running different versions of Epic, and their data structures are not identical,” Monson said. To address this, Sutter Health has centralized data and analytics efforts to drive standardization.

“We found 6,400 SQL databases sitting unused for three years,” she noted. “By identifying and eliminating unnecessary data, we’re improving efficiency while maintaining security.”

Monson explained that inconsistent data structures lead to challenges in patient care. “Physicians expect to see a complete patient history, but if one hospital’s system codes allergies differently than another, that history might not be as clear. Standardizing data structures is crucial for accurate and comprehensive patient records.”

Reducing redundancies across IT systems is also critical for financial sustainability. Sutter Health has been on an “application rationalization” journey for years, evaluating which applications are essential and eliminating excess.