Sutter Health Approach
Denise Cobb
Sutter Health Approach
Accounting Concepts for Health Care Professionals
Ona Johnson
April 26, 2010
Sutter Health is a non- for-profit community based healthcare and hospital system based in Sacramento, CA. This system serves patients and their families in more than 100 Northern California cities and towns, Sutter Health doctors, hospitals and other health care service providers join resources and share expertise to advance health care quality and access. The organization takes its name from California pioneer John Sutter whose namesake fort was one of Sacramento’s original European settlements. In response to the influenza epidemic of 1918, community leaders constructed the first Sutter Hospital in the vicinity of the fort, replacing an old adobe house that had previously served as a makeshift hospital. Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento occupies this site today.
Other Sutter Health-affiliated hospitals date back to the 1800s and were some of Northern California’s earliest health care providers. In 1866, the predecessor of today’s Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa opened its doors to residents of Sonoma County. Today in the United States there are nearly 47 million Americans uninsured and 80 percent of that comes from working families. The article by Souza and McCarty, “From Bottom to Top: How One Provider Retooled its Collections,” covers how one of Northern California’s largest providers, Sutter Health, approached implementing a new strategy to increase collections. In collecting payments from new patients, services provided, comes from the need to implement new strategies on how and when to collect the payments. Sutter Health have made a successful new program to implement and defined most problems within their A/R department, developed solutions to their problems and have recognized the need to ensure the program is continuously effective. (Souza) Sutter Health began committing itself to improving patient
Sutter Health Approach
Accounting Concepts for Health Care Professionals
Ona Johnson
April 26, 2010
Sutter Health is a non- for-profit community based healthcare and hospital system based in Sacramento, CA. This system serves patients and their families in more than 100 Northern California cities and towns, Sutter Health doctors, hospitals and other health care service providers join resources and share expertise to advance health care quality and access. The organization takes its name from California pioneer John Sutter whose namesake fort was one of Sacramento’s original European settlements. In response to the influenza epidemic of 1918, community leaders constructed the first Sutter Hospital in the vicinity of the fort, replacing an old adobe house that had previously served as a makeshift hospital. Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento occupies this site today.
Other Sutter Health-affiliated hospitals date back to the 1800s and were some of Northern California’s earliest health care providers. In 1866, the predecessor of today’s Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa opened its doors to residents of Sonoma County. Today in the United States there are nearly 47 million Americans uninsured and 80 percent of that comes from working families. The article by Souza and McCarty, “From Bottom to Top: How One Provider Retooled its Collections,” covers how one of Northern California’s largest providers, Sutter Health, approached implementing a new strategy to increase collections. In collecting payments from new patients, services provided, comes from the need to implement new strategies on how and when to collect the payments. Sutter Health have made a successful new program to implement and defined most problems within their A/R department, developed solutions to their problems and have recognized the need to ensure the program is continuously effective. (Souza) Sutter Health began committing itself to improving patient
References: • Souza, and McCarty. (2007). From the Bottom to the Top: How One Provider Retooled Its Collections. Healthcare Financial Management, 61(9), 66-73. • Czerwinski, R., and Friend, P.. (2008, September). Selling Written-Off A/R. Healthcare Financial Management, 62(9), 128-30, 132. • Eller, T. (2008, June). Best Practices for Self-Pay Collections. Healthcare Financial Management, 62(6), 50-3. • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutter_Health