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Sacramento-based Sutter Health, a 24-hospital health system serving patients in northern California, is putting up $23 million to invest in primary and behavioral healthcare in Del Norte and Lake counties.

The money will go toward a number of investments. The largest is at Sutter Coast Hospital, which has broken ground on its new Emergency Psychiatric Assessment, Treatment and Healing, or EmPATH, unit. Designed to be more supportive and calming for people experiencing acute psychiatric crises, the unit aims to stabilize patients in a more appropriate setting, reducing unnecessary inpatient stays.

Set to open in early 2026, the EmPATH unit is expected to also improve the hospital’s emergency department wait times.

Sutter has also closed escrow on a 18,000 square-foot building across the street from the hospital that will expand access to primary care, urgent care and rehabilitation services. Construction is set to begin the first quarter of 2026 with plans to occupy the space by the first quarter of 2027.

In a bid to enhance recruitment and retention, Sutter is also exploring affordable workplace housing, closing escrow on more than 6.5 acres of land to develop for the purpose, with plans to support additional primary care, urgent care and rehabilitation services, as well as the physician residency program.

$17.5 million has been approved to date to support planning for these two projects, the system said.

WHAT’S THE IMPACT

Sutter Health is also investing $5.5 million to build a new 6,900-square-foot care center in Lake County’s Hidden Valley Lake, which the system described as a “healthcare desert.”

The new site will help address provider shortages and reduce long appointment wait times, said Sutter. When it opens in June 2026, the care center will offer urgent care, primary care, on-site lab and X-ray services, and rotating specialty care in cardiology, OB/Gyn and orthopedics. 

“Currently, Lake County has only 12 primary care clinicians serving more than 67,000 residents – a shortage that contributes to wait times of up to six months for new patient appointments,” said Timothy Stephens, CEO of Sutter Lakeside Hospital, which will oversee the new care center. “This new site brings care closer to home for residents of Hidden Valley Lake and the surrounding communities and is projected to serve 3,000 new patients each year.”

THE LARGER TREND

The system is also enhancing its technology and telehealth capabilities, collaborating with Concert Health on enhancing its behavioral telehealth care services. 

Sutter also touted a telestroke program that helps emergency department and hospital-based medical teams across Northern California, including those rural communities, deliver faster, clinically guided stroke treatment.

Jeff Lagasse is editor of Healthcare Finance News.
Email: jlagasse@himss.org
Healthcare Finance News is a HIMSS Media publication.