Sarah Krevans, newly minted president and CEO of Sacramento-based Sutter health, has named research and technology partnerships with Silicon Valley companies as a top strategic priority, according to the San Francisco Business Times.
Ms. Krevans, formerly COO of Sutter Health, took the helm of the health system in January after her predecessor, Pat Fry, retired.
Sutter Health has changed its organizational structure over recent years to make the system more compatible for partnerships, an effort Ms. Krevans says she will continue to uphold.
"We haven't always been the organization that was easiest to partner with, for very small entrepreneurial companies and even some of the big innovative companies in Silicon Valley," said Ms. Krevans, according to the report.
Under Mr. Fry's leadership, Sutter Health consolidated its regions of operation from five to two — the Bay Area and the Sacramento/Central Valley region — and merged several hospital boards into just two regional boards and the system's board of directors. In addition to transitioning to a more decentralized structure, Sutter Health enlisted a chief innovation officer and created a patient experience leadership role, according to the report.
The goal of the organizational structure redesign was not only to innovate internally, but to also "partner with the innovation that's all around us," such as in Silicon Valley, Ms. Krevans said. Now she is tasked with hiring technology experts, as well as identifying and recruiting healthcare executives who can open communication with Silicon Valley leaders.