Sutter Health was recognized on Mar. 25 as one of Fortune magazine’s America’s Most Innovative Companies of 2026, ranking third among five California health systems honored this year. The announcement coincides with the tenth anniversary of Sutter’s innovation practice.
The recognition highlights the importance of practical experience in implementing new ideas within healthcare organizations. Sutter Health’s approach, described as building ‘adoption muscle,’ is seen by industry analysts as a key strategic advantage.
Chris Waugh, who has served as Sutter’s chief innovation officer for a decade, shared several lessons learned from his time leading experimentation and redesign efforts at the not-for-profit health system. “Get into the field and get feedback, tune it, modify it, and ship it again,” Waugh said about maintaining momentum through small wins rather than waiting for perfection. He noted that this approach is currently being applied to help design and prototype a digital hub for diabetes care with winners from Sutter’s 2025 Innovation Challenge.
Dr. Richard Milani, chief clinical innovation officer at Sutter Health, emphasized targeting major challenges to achieve significant impact: “It’s equal parts ambitious and arduous to prioritize the most stubbornly difficult challenge you have, but that is where your greatest impact will be.” He cited Sutter Sync—a proprietary remote patient monitoring program focused on chronic conditions—as an example of tackling declining national control rates for hypertension and diabetes.
Waugh also stressed shared ownership in successful innovations: “Even if it’s an outside startup that we’re working with, I make sure that the internal end-users feel like it’s their product.” This collaborative model helped scale clinical AI tools across Sutter in less than six months by involving all relevant roles early in development.
Other insights included embracing unexpected opportunities—such as expanding access to mental health care—and ensuring innovations benefit everyone involved without adding burdens. Waugh explained: “If it burdens anyone in the chain, it won’t happen.” Emotional factors are also critical; he said solutions must resonate positively with users or risk poor adoption regardless of logical benefits.
Looking ahead, both Waugh and Milani expressed optimism about sharing new insights over the next decade as they continue navigating rapid changes within healthcare.
