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 2022, our network of physician organizations, hospitals and other healthcare providers, invested $899 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.