September 23, 2026
For Petaluma Health Center, a federally qualified health center in Northern California, creating a more complete view of each patient’s health was essential to delivering coordinated, patient-centered care. As their dental department grew, Petaluma Health Center partnered with OCHIN to address workflow challenges, strengthen coordination across departments, and create a more reliable system that supports providers and care teams while helping patients meet their health improvement goals.
Watch the video to hear how Petaluma Health Center’s dental program has grown and how their partnership with OCHIN supports a more integrated, connected approach to care.
In the video, Ramona English, chief dental officer at Petaluma Health Center, shares how the organization used OCHIN Epic tools to bring important patient information together and create a more connected patient experience through integrated workflows and shared data.
“We really needed to get something more integrated. One patient, one record,” English said. “You can see all the care gaps in the same place.”
Petaluma Health Center has experienced significant growth in their dental department. What began as a team of one dentist, one assistant and one receptionist has grown to 65 staff members serving more than 15,000 patients and providing approximately 35,000 dental visits annually across three main sites. As the department expanded, they needed systems in place that could support their growing team while maintaining a consistent, high-quality patient experience.
With OCHIN Epic, Petaluma Health Center took a phased approach to strengthening their medical-dental integration by bringing patient access, prevention, early intervention and care gaps into one place.
“OCHIN just feels more like a clinical partner, focused, more aligned with our goals, working hand in hand with me and helping optimize our system,” English said. “It’s right there with you when you’re providing care, because you can’t do it alone.”
This connected approach also gave their care teams more reliable data to understand what was working and where they could improve. At one site, documented patient self-management goals increased from 60% to 90% over eight months as care teams adopted new workflows to help patients identify and track their own health goals during dental visits.
English says learning from peers across the OCHIN network continues to inspire new ideas and improvements that benefit both care teams and the communities they serve.
“We’re all one network. We benefit from each other’s work. We work together … to live our vision of creating and fostering a healthy community where all individuals can reach their highest potential for health and wellness.”
Petaluma Health Center’s experience demonstrates how connected technology, collaboration and shared learning can help healthcare organizations transform care delivery. Explore more member stories on the OCHIN blog.
