Sutter Health Corporation is cutting 121 information technology jobs at its Information Services department in Rancho Cordova, near Sacramento. Sutter, a 26-hospital system based in Sacramento, said the move came in response 'to the continued economic downturn affecting the health-care industry and all California employers'. The IT jobs are being slashed effective July 17. An unspecified number of those jobs support Sutter's massive electronic health record project, which is on hold at the hospital level but apparently will remain on track for affiliated physician offices.

Sutter Health Corporation has appointed Florence L. DiBenedetto as senior vice president and general counsel. She will assume her new duties Jan. 5, succeeding longtime general counsel Gary Loveridge, who is retiring. As a senior partner of the Sacramento law firm Hunter Richey DiBenedetto & Eisenbeis, DiBenedetto, 52, oversaw the firm's health law section for more than 10 years. DiBenedetto also has served as an adjunct faculty member at the UC Davis School of Law.

Sutter Health Corporation reported earnings results for the year 2007. The company said that its total 2007 profits equaled 2006's total of $623 million, due to a reclassification of how it reports investment-related income. Its net profit on operations, in contrast, jumped 4.2% to $471 million. Operating revenue for the system, meanwhile, jumped 7.4% to $7.65 billion, compared with $7.12 billion in 2006.