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