SACRAMENTO, Calif., – Sutter Health has named Laura Wilt to the executive leadership position of senior vice president, chief digital officer. Wilt will oversee all aspects of a unified digital strategy from information services to design and innovation to data analytics, with the goal of achieving a best in class digitally enabled healthcare experience for the integrated system’s 3.4 million patients.
“We are excited about our digital future, and this new role will accelerate Sutter Health’s digital innovation and initiatives aimed at delivering a connected, convenient and high-quality patient experience,” said Warner L. Thomas, Sutter Health president and CEO. “Laura Wilt is a dynamic leader with a proven track record of implementing award-winning digital strategies within complex health systems. Laura and Sutter’s experienced team will expand our digital solutions to simplify access and navigation for patients across all care settings, from their homes to virtual care to our care facilities.”
In addition to building better digital consumer connectivity to create more options for patients to interact with Sutter Health, Wilt will focus on easing the physician and caregiver experience within Sutter Health. Specifically, she will lead the system’s effort to improve the electronic health record (EHR) user experience for Sutter-aligned physicians, clinicians and care teams by building the system’s capabilities in AI and machine learning to make it easier for physicians and caregivers to care for patients by, for example, making Epic easier to use and improving in-basket workflows.
“I’m excited to join Sutter Health to integrate and maximize the use of digital technologies in transforming healthcare for millions of patients and clinicians. Technology should help us improve the patient experience and ease physician and care team workloads. We must take a people-centered approach and constantly innovate to improve access for our patients as well as streamline how our clinicians deliver personalized care,” said Wilt.
Wilt comes to Sutter Health after 10 years at Louisiana-based Ochsner Health where she was most recently system vice president, chief information officer. At Ochsner, Wilt worked with innovation teams to develop and support new care delivery solutions, digital tools and build patient management capabilities, including virtual nursing units and patient engagement apps. Wilt’s team won numerous accolades for their work, most recently a College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) Level 9 “Digital Health Most Wired” health system. Her team also was recognized by Epic Systems with Gold Stars Level 9 and its Honor Roll distinction. The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) honored Ochsner’s hospitals and clinics with stage 7 distinction, its highest level, for the system’s Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM) and O-EMRAM.
Prior to Ochsner, Wilt was president of Intellistar Consulting for nearly three years. Before Intellistar, she advised health systems across the country as part of Epic Systems’ implementation services team.
Wilt earned an M.B.A. in 2014 from Tulane University’s A.B. Freeman School of Business. In 2005, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Management (B.S.M.) in Finance from Tulane University.
