Accountability & Integrity
At Sutter Health, we are guided by a fundamental mission and we act from a series of values that include honesty and integrity in all we do, and we expect every employee of Sutter Health and our affiliate organizations to uphold the highest ethical standards and best business practices.
Ethical Business Practices
Audited Financial Reports
IRS Information Return - Form 990
Our Commitment to Uninsured and Low-Income Uninsured Patients
Our Not-for-Profit Accountability
Settlement Regarding Billing of Uninsured Patients
Ethical Business Practices
Signed into law in 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act establishes higher standards to which public companies must conform with regard to governance, disclosures and audit procedures. Although Sutter Health, as a not-for-profit organization, is not subject to the rules set forth by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, we are committed to the highest moral and ethical business principles and have made special efforts to operate within the governance principles set forth in the Sarbanes Oxley Act.
Sutter Health's audit committee is comprised of independent directors who are financially literate and the Chair of the committee meets the financial expert standard established by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Sutter Health and its affiliates have adopted an integrated audit policy to assure that each of its affiliates has a state of the art financial audit. Sutter Health's audit committee retains the outside auditor and approves all non-audit engagements.
A Culture of Compliance and Accountability
Sutter Health has implemented a number of activities and policies which have helped to create a culture of compliance and accountability. For example, Sutter Health:
- Was among the first health care organizations in the country to voluntarily adopt and implement a comprehensive compliance program.
- Was among the first to require all of our board members and officers to undergo criminal background checks.
- Was among the first organization of its size to adopt a Business Code of Conduct.
- Has adopted state-of-the-art conflicts of interest policies for its board members and key employees.
- Has adopted numerous policies designed to avoid potential abuses in areas including joint ventures, development, and physician recruitment.
Our Financial Report
Sutter Health's audited financial reports are available online for you to view. Audited Financial Reports
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Our IRS Information Return - Form 990
Every year, not-for-profit organizations like Sutter Health file the Internal Revenue Service Form 990 "Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax." Below is a link to Sutter Health's most recent Form 990.
Sutter Health's 2006 Form 990 (5MB PDF)
Sutter Health's 2005 Form 990 (2.1 MB)
2005 Companion 990T form (2.5 MB)
Sutter Health's 2004 Form 990 (2.1 MB PDF)
Sutter Health's 2003 Form 990 (3.8 MB PDF)
Sutter Health's 2002 Form 990 (10MB PDF)
A printed copy of the Form 990 may be obtained by calling the Sutter Health Finance Department at 916-286-6665.
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Our Commitment to Uninsured and Low-Income Uninsured Patients
In recent years, the affiliates of Sutter Health have made great strides in better serving our communities by working together to identify and adopt best practices. In February 2004, Sutter Health affiliates took another important step in this direction by bringing greater and more thoughtful consistency to patient charity care and payment collection practices in the communities we serve.
Learn about our charity care policy.
Our Not-for-Profit Accountability
As one of the nation’s leading not-for-profit health care networks, Sutter Health routinely responds to questions from state and federal authorities about our important role, responsibility and commitments.
In May 2005, Senator Charles Grassley, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, sent a list of questions to ten different health care systems across the nation, including Sutter Health. These questions covered a variety of topics including governance, charity care and expenses. Below are links to Sutter Health’s responses to those questions.
Section A
Section B
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