NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – The not-for-profit Sutter Health announced the launch of a new medical transport network serving the critically ill, injured and most fragile patients needing to transfer to higher levels of care in Northern California.

The network features a fleet of air ambulances operated by California Shock Trauma Air Rescue (CALSTAR) and a fleet of ground ambulances operated by American Medical Response (AMR).

Sutter Health collaborated with AMR and CALSTAR to establish the new medical transport network, which will help quickly and efficiently transport patients from facility to facility – both within the Sutter Health network and outside of it.

Minutes matter during medically delicate situations, and swift transfer to a facility with an appropriate level of care facilitates timely access to medically necessary treatment.

Sutter Health’s goal is for CALSTAR and AMR to achieve immediate and seamless dispatch of air and ground ambulances with one call from the patient’s clinical care team.

CALSTAR and AMR will strategically locate aircraft and vehicles across a dozen geographic deployment areas to minimize response and transport times.

“Our new transportation network helps us provide vital care quickly and efficiently,” said Stephen Lockhart, M.D., Sutter Health’s chief medical officer. “After initial examinations and tests, clinical care teams may determine some patients need more intensive care. For example, a patient may suffer from a stroke and require specialized treatment at a hospital with neurointensive services.”

“We’re committed to developing creative solutions so we can give the right care, in the right place and at the right time,” said Sarah Krevans, Sutter Health President and CEO. “Our new transportation network illustrates just one more way we’re innovating and deploying novel approaches to better serve and support patients.”

Special features of Sutter Health’s air-ground ambulance network include:

· One call to transfer a patient. Care teams needing to transfer a critical care patient make a single call to Sutter’s central transfer hub, which coordinates directly with AMR and CALSTAR.

· Rapid response time. Close coordination with Sutter’s central transfer hub enables AMR and CALSTAR to immediately dispatch the closest available critical care ambulance resources to achieve rapid response.

· Trained medical personnel. Two registered nurses staff each air ambulance. EMTs and a critical care nurse staff critical care ground ambulances.

· A strategically located network. Sutter Health stationed 12 AMR co-branded critical care ground ambulances at 11 Sutter hospitals, and located four CALSTAR co-branded helicopters at four CALSTAR airbases across Northern California.

Sutter Health’s transport network will help meet the growing demand of patients needing transfers. Sutter Health coordinated 17,000 patient transfers in 2015.

The co-branded air and ground ambulances are located at the following deployment hubs:

Air: CALSTAR

· Auburn, Concord, Modesto and Merced County (helicopters) / Modesto and Merced County begin service Sept. 1, 2016.

Ground: AMR

· Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, Summit campus, in Oakland.

· California Pacific Medical Center, Davies campus, in San Francisco.

· California Pacific Medical Center, NICU/PICU, California campus, in San Francisco.

· Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley.

· Memorial Medical Center in Modesto.

· Mills-Peninsula Health Services in Burlingame.

· Novato Community Hospital.

· Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch.

· Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento.

· Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, NICU/PICU.

· Sutter Roseville Medical Center.

Sutter Health believes its air-ground medical transport network is one of the largest air-ground medical transport networks in the nation.  

The CALSTAR and AMR agreements do not include 911 first-responder services.