It was more than a century ago that Sutter Health first began to form as a way to help local communities cope with growing populations, epidemics and natural disasters. In an effort to ensure that healthcare services would be available for future generations, physicians, hospitals and community members in Northern California eventually joined together to formally create the not-for-profit Sutter Health network.
We started out as a loosely knit community of independent healthcare providers, but forces like rising costs and declining payment for services made it difficult for hospitals and physicians to continue operating on their own. Just in the last decade, more than 100 Northern California hospitals have had to close their doors, and the majority of the state's physician groups are facing significant problems as well.