Santa Rosa, CA - Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa (SMCSR) and Southwest Community Health Center (SCHC) have finalized their affiliation agreement that will sustain and strengthen the Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency program. SCHC will assume operation of the residency program's outpatient clinic, the Family Practice Center, as of November 12, 2007.

The affiliation between Southwest Community Health Center and Sutter is an extraordinary example of collaboration and service that will expand access to health care and strengthen the primary care safety net in Sonoma County. Under the terms of the agreement, SCHC will staff and run the clinic as the Chanate Family Practice Center while SMCSR continues to manage the residency program's educational component as part of a consortium of local health care organizations.

SMCSR will support the transition of clinic operations to SCHC through a $1.25 million investment, providing working capital and enabling tenant improvements to the Chanate Road facility as well as the purchase of essential medical and information technology equipment.

"The Family Medicine Residency Program is an integral part of this community and an established tradition. SCHC looks forward to participating in this outstanding teaching program," says Efren Carrillo, president of the SCHC Board of Directors. "Not only does this nationally recognized program provide residents with the training and experience necessary to complete their education, but they also become leaders in our local medical community. We commend Sutter Medical Center for investing in our community with this critically needed expansion to provide the underserved with better access to primary care practitioners."

"The arrangement with Southwest to manage the Family Practice Center is a natural for both of our organizations. We are committed to a stable future for the Residency Program and similarly share interests in improving access to primary care services in Sonoma County. It is a wonderful example of Sutter's broader collaboration with community health centers in Sonoma County", says Mike Cohill, Chief Executive Officer of Sutter Health's Sonoma County operations.

SCHC will take over the four-building facility that currently houses the residency program offices and clinic, a 19,000-square-foot site across from Sutter Medical Center. SCHC will hire three new full-time providers and employ 50 staff members, many of whom work at the SMCSR's Family Practice Center now, to support the clinic's expanded operations that will grow from serving 7,000 patients to more than 10,000.

In Spring 2006, SMCSR initiated a re-design of the Family Medicine Residency Program to ensure its fiscal survival and continued program excellence. Other local hospitals, physician groups, the County Health Department, and SCHC came together with SMCSR to create a plan for preserving the residency program as a vital community resource.

The innovative approach of separating clinic management from the teaching program allows the Family Practice Center to remain viable while continuing to fulfill both aspects of its mission: providing an outpatient setting to train family medicine physicians and increasing access to care for the uninsured and underserved in our community. As a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), SCHC receives higher Medi-Cal reimbursement rates than hospitals for providing primary care services.

About the Santa Rosa Family Medicine Program (www.srfmr.org)

The Santa Rosa Medicine Residency's roots in Sonoma County extend back to the early 1900s when the present SMCSR site was Community Hospital of Santa Rosa. Following affiliation with the University of California in San Francisco, the program formally became a family practice residency in 1972. SMCSR took over managing the accredited program as part of leasing Community Hospital from the County of Sonoma in 1996.

In July 2008 the program will be sponsored by the Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency Consortium, a nonprofit organization with a board consisting of leaders from the entire medical community and financial support for all the major medical institutions in the county.

Teaching staff for the residency's educational program consists of medical providers from throughout the community who serve as full-time, part-time, and volunteer instructors. Each year, the program attracts 36 top family practice residents from medical schools across the United States. Many family medicine physicians who practice in Sonoma County came here originally because of this residency program.

About Southwest Community Health Center

Southwest Community Health Center is the medical home for more than 15,000 individuals in our community providing comprehensive primary care to low-income, working families who are uninsured or on Medical, regardless of their ability to pay. Services include primary care, family planning, obstetrics, mental health services, adult day services, specialty care, outreach, health education, and advocacy.

SCHC currently provides 50,000 patient visits each year through programs at four locations: the Lombardi Court Clinic, Chanate Health Center, the Elsie Allen Health Center, and Southwest Adult Day Services at Friends House. With the addition of the Family Practice Center, SCHC expects annual patient visits for all sites collectively to reach 100,000 by June 30, 2008.