AVIA and Sutter Health Join Forces to Address Healthcare's Most Pressing Challenges

Innovation Cohort Will Focus on Patients' Needs

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Aug 19, 2014, 10:10 ET

CHICAGO, Aug. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- AVIA – a provider-led accelerator that puts the power of networks to task on the biggest problems in healthcare – announces Sutter Health, a not-for-profit health system in Northern California, as the most recent addition to the AVIA Innovator Network.

Sutter Health will participate in AVIA's inaugural cohort focused helping patients navigate the healthcare system and enable continuity of care and transparency among a patient's providers so they work as a larger team for each patient.

Recently launched at the National Healthcare Innovation Summit, AVIA's first-of-its-kind innovation cohorts bring technology-enabled solutions to bear on specific challenges of strategic importance to providers. AVIA's cohorts are designed to help mitigate the risk typically associated with being an early adopter by selecting groups of like-minded, non-competitive providers, to identify and implement solutions with scale and greater efficiency.

"Sutter's commitment to developing new models of care has been evident through their investment in MDLive, their CMS innovation grants focused on redesigning advanced disease management and their focus on mobile technologies to better coordinate care and communication," said Ted Meisel, AVIA cofounder. He added, "Other AVIA Innovator Network members, such as Providence Health & Services, also share this desire to reshape the delivery system, making AVIA a community of action."

"Sutter and AVIA working together will help solve navigation problems for patients, and improve the quality and reduce the cost of care," said Peter Anderson, Senior VP Strategy & Business Development of Sutter Health.

Sutter Health executive Peter Anderson will also join AVIA's National Steering Committee where a select group of industry visionaries from provider organizations including: Cedars Sinai, Mayo Clinic, Providence Health & Services, St. Francis Care, UCLA, and Northwestern Memorial Hospital will play a critical role in vetting and prioritizing contemporary provider challenges and the specific areas where emerging technology-enabled solutions can have the greatest impact. The group is convening this week in Chicago at AVIA's headquarters.

AVIA was founded in 2013 by two seasoned, serial health IT-entrepreneurs, Eric Langshur and Ted Meisel. AVIA enables healthcare providers to build competitive advantage by effectively leveraging emerging technology-enabled innovations. Because the company's orientation is geared specifically to the strategic needs of provider organizations, AVIA ensures that potential solutions indeed address meaningful problems and offer positive change for our delivery system.

About AVIA
AVIA is a provider-led innovation accelerator. AVIA addresses healthcare's most pressing challenges by working with provider organizations to identify and implement the best emerging tech-enabled solutions, at scale. AVIA's Innovator Network offers providers a higher probability of success and a quicker path to impact. For more information, please visit: http://aviahealthinnovation.com.

About Sutter Health
Sutter Health enhances the well-being of people in the communities it serves through a not-for-profit commitment to compassion and excellence in health care services. Headquartered in Sacramento, CA, it includes doctors, hospitals and other health care services in more than 100 Northern California cities and towns.

SOURCE AVIA