Sutter Health has announced the winner of its 2025 Innovation Challenge, selecting a digital platform designed to support children with Type 1 diabetes and their families. The winning team, named ‘Mindful Tech,’ was chosen from nearly 150 teams that submitted a total of 277 ideas aimed at improving healthcare delivery across the Sutter system.
The proposed digital hub will allow parents and children to order medications and medical equipment in one place, while also providing access to educational resources. The idea was selected after a competitive pitch event held at Sutter’s Innovation Center earlier this week.
“The good news in diabetes care is that treatments keep advancing. The bad news is that, across healthcare as a whole, the supply chain and educational options aren’t advancing at the same rate,” said Dr. Gnanagurudasan Prakasam, pediatric endocrinologist and physician leader for the winning team. “So, you’ve got parents with multiple prescriptions and device orders, going to different suppliers, experiencing delays and denials – all while missing the education they need.”
Dr. Prakasam explained that their vision is for a centralized digital interface where prescription and supply orders are managed efficiently. This would reduce paperwork for families while offering savings on costs. Additionally, it would provide personalized reminders and tools to help patients manage their condition.
“Core to our purpose at Sutter Health is that we never stop looking for ways to make healthcare better for our patients and our communities. And it all starts with a mindset of curiosity,” said Warner Thomas, president and CEO of Sutter Health. “Our innovation challenge inspires teams across Sutter to work together to reimagine what’s possible and gives them the tools and opportunities to design practical solutions that improve people’s lives.”
In addition to $600,000 in seed funding from donors through Sutter’s philanthropy team, ‘Mindful Tech’ will receive development support from experts within Sutter’s innovation, digital health, and information technology departments. The goal is to integrate these new resources into My Health Online—the patient portal used by Sutter families.
“When I see patients in the clinic I want to talk about blood sugar management, but often the whole visit is spent solving supply problems. Having everything ordered through Sutter, coupled with on-demand education, will help solve our patients’ greatest challenges so they can focus on managing their chronic condition.” ~ Dr. Gnanagurudasan Prakasam
“Today families spend approximately 11 hours per month coordinating care for a child with Type 1 Diabetes. If we can put services together, make supplies and education seamless and available directly to patients, we are going to close gaps that families and our staff must manually fill today.” ~ Mila Melnik
“In the hospital, patients have support from nurses, social workers, case managers, pharmacists, health educators and physicians. But when parents go home with a newly diagnosed child they’re largely on their own. It’s not uncommon to have 14 or more prescriptions and supply orders… Anything we can do in terms of transition of care to set them up for success will improve care and outcomes.” ~ Laura Zhang
“We have all the technology we need within Sutter to make this idea a reality… I’m confident that these enhancements will give clinicians more time to care for patients.” ~ Pradeep Shukla
The Mindful Tech team includes clinical leaders such as Mila Melnik (pediatric endocrinology clinical practice manager), Laura Zhang (Director of Pharmacy at Mills-Peninsula Medical Center), Pradeep Shukla (director of business systems), Rachel Mckinney (president of Greater Sacramento Division as executive sponsor), along with external advisors Eric Stone, Lauren Lyon, Mike Gaulke,and Judy Gaulke.
An advisory council composed of entrepreneurs,business leaders,and investors assisted each finalist team in preparing business plans.The council was organized by Sutter’s philanthropy team which also helped raise prize funds.Raya Elias-Petros,Sutter’s chief philanthropy officer,praised this partnership between innovation center staffers,digital health specialists,and donors.
Chris Waugh,Sutter’s chief innovation officer,summarized,“Our frontline clinicaland operational teams have brilliant ideas–the internaland external advisors help by broadening those ideas outto help make them more scalable or sustainable.OurS utter innovation team works muchthe same way tocatalyze ideasfrom within;usingour expertiseandour connections todigitalhealthand start-ups herein San Franciscoand Silicon Valley,to push boundarieson whatis possible.”
Last year’s winning project—a self-administered digital test screening older adultsfor early signsof cognitive impairment—has now been implementedat several clinics.Nearly400patients haveso far completedthescreening tool aspartof regularcareat sites includingthe Ray Dolby Brain Health Centerat California Pacific Medical Centerin San Francisco,the Novato site,andS utter Neuroscience Institute Memory Clinicin Sacramento.The screenerwill soonbe pilotedin primarycare settings.
