Sutter Health and many other healthcare system around the country voluntarily subscribe to a common definition of community benefit developed by the Catholic Health Association.
What is Community Benefit?
Community benefits are programs or activities that provide treatment and/or promote health and healing as a response to community needs; they are not provided for marketing purposes. Community benefit:
- Generates a low or negative financial return
- Responds to needs of special populations such as persons living in poverty and other disenfranchised persons
- Supplies services or programs that would likely be discontinued – or would need to be provided by another not-for-profit or government provider – if the decision was made on a purely financial basis
- Responds to public health needs
- Involves education or research that improves overall community health
Sutter's Commitment to Our Communities
In 2018, our network of physician organizations, hospitals and other healthcare providers, invested $734 million in healthcare programs, services and benefits for the poor and underserved. This includes:
- The cost of providing charity care
- The unpaid costs of participating in Medi-Cal
- Investments in medical research, health education and community-based public benefit programs such as school-based clinics and prenatal care for patients.
Association for Community Health Improvement
Sutter Health is a proud member of the Association for Community Health Improvement (ACHI). This organization provides tools and resources to help Sutter Health enhance performance in achieving community health goals. Learn about ACHI.