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Business Profile

Medical Service Organization

Sutter Health

Headquarters

This business is NOT BBB Accredited.

Find BBB Accredited Businesses in Medical Service Organization.

Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Sutter Health's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see

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    Customer Complaints Summary

    • 129 total complaints in the last 3 years.
    • 34 complaints closed in the last 12 months.

    If you've experienced an issue

    Submit a Complaint

    The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

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    Complaint status

    Complaint type

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:07/23/2024

      Type:Delivery Issues
      Status:
      Unanswered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      Date of the transaction: 04/06/2024 Amount: $204.80 PAMF (Sutter Health) requested for preventive care blood work as part of the regular annual check which I got done at the ************ facility. I received an invoice from PAMF to pay $204.80 for this service. As per Insurance (UHC), preventive care is completely covered and when I reached out to them, they specified that PAMF had diagnostic care codes instead of preventive care code and that was the reason, the insurance did not pay for it. I reached out to PAMF and they said they will do a code review and they come back to us saying the codes are correct and it is an insurance company issue. Both parties are not ready to take responsibility. I have attached the documents from both UHC where they denied an appeal and PAMF where they say that their codes are correct and also a text with the conversation with a UHC customer service agent who clearly mentions that the code that **** provided this year was different from the ones that they did last year (last year the preventive care blood work payment was taken care of by the insurance)

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:07/19/2024

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Unanswered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      I visited *********************************** at ******************************** Foundation on 7/11/2024 for a regular annual physical exam. I have been billed twice for this visit. One bill, approximately $500, was for the preventative visit, which is covered 100% by my insurance. However, I also received an additional bill for $350 labeled as a regular office visit.During the appointment, we only discussed my medical history. I had no new symptoms and was not feeling unwell that day. I specifically asked ****************** multiple times if the topics discussed were part of the preventative exam, as I wanted to avoid any additional charges. Despite my concerns, I was still billed for a regular office visit.I believe that ****************** should have informed me if our discussion was going to result in additional charges. My long-standing health issues are well-managed by specialists, and I do not require additional information from a primary care doctor during an annual physical exam.I consider this additional charge to be unfair and potentially fraudulent. I request a review of this billing for the regular office visit.Thank you for your attention to this matter.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:07/12/2024

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Unanswered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      I paid $165 in hospital fees and MRI fees. Sutter Health have been calling me before 9 AM often. They threatened to put my account in collection and ruin my credit. I told them that I mailed my payment June 24, 2024. I spoke with ****** and *** regarding my payment. I was not happy with their resolution to the problem. ****** said it takes 30 days to post a payment. I told her that my payment should be posted the moment it is received. My credit suffers because Sutter Health do not post payments in a timely manner.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:06/17/2024

      Type:Order Issues
      Status:
      Unanswered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      Sutter Health is not processing paperwork using the current insurance on file. Thus, I am being billed the out of pocket price. Sutter Health has failed to update my insurance after multiple requests and expects me to pay the out of pocket price.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:06/06/2024

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Unanswered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      February 28, 2024 for an emergency room visit with a charge of $3,341.40. I went through a third party after requesting a dispute of the bill and was subsequently ignored by the hospital. The billing department said I couldn't dispute the bill.After review of my bill, medical record and pricing using publicly-available hospital pricing data from Sutter and nearby hospitals, we have discovered the following:MEDICALLY UNNECESSARY CARE (CLINICAL REVIEW REQUESTED AND REQUIRED)3 unnecessary charges where the patient received medically unnecessary treatment. An emergency medicine clinician reviewed the medical record, the bill, and found the following:1. CPT ***** (LABORATORY - CHEMISTRY):1.1. The use of a SerumHCG in this patient was not indicated, the patient provided a urine sample which could have been used for a urine pregnancy test. The SerumHCG should be removed from this bill.2. CPT ***** (LABORATORY - CHEMISTRY):2.1. The basic labs and ********************* did not show evidence of acidosis or hypoxia. There was no indication for blood gas measurement in this patient. The blood gas was likely obtained for lactic acid; however, the remainder of the blood gas has no relevance to the patient's clinical presentation. 3. CPT ***** (LABORATORY - CHEMISTRY):3.1. This patient presented without severe epigastric abdominal pain and there is no rigidity or guarding documented in the chart. Lipase in this patient's case is not indicated based on the lack of any signs/symptoms concerning for pancreatitis. This meets the criteria for abuse.3 INFLATED PRICING Across the bill, we suggest more reasonable rates. You'll note that:1. For CPT ***** (CT SCAN - BODY SCAN), the original rate of $4,671.03 is 13.4x the ******** rate, exceeding even the highest multiple cited in a January 2022 *************************** report.2. For CPT ***** (CT SCAN - BODY SCAN), UC ***** Medical Center, 1.4 miles away, has a cash rate of $965.93, as compared to the patient's rate of $4,671.03.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:06/05/2024

      Type:Service or Repair Issues
      Status:
      Unanswered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      I went for an annual wellness checkup. As part of that I had to do a set of blood/urine work as the doctor ordered. Sutter has not billed it as wellness visit and as a result of which all the bloodwork/urine work is subject to deductible.Upon my request they had realized their mistake and corrected it in April 2024. But then again I see they have applied the charges back and have added $212.80 to my account.I asked them to correct it till I get it fixed. They refused to fix it and threatened to send to collection unless I cough up the amount.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:05/18/2024

      Type:Customer Service Issues
      Status:
      Unresolved
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      Billing issue from date of service 2/14/24 and bill date 3/27/24 at Sutter Family Medicine *************************************************. Patient: **** ********************* Number: ********. Sutter dr. strongly recommended a single-value test but cant tell me the price as its "different for everyone". But I have great insurance but they also wont tell me price before service is rendered. Sutter sends me an outrageous bill for over $300. I call and they tell me to apply for financial help from sutter so I certified mail send in my tax returns and bank statements to which they deny my claim because they only help noninsurance bills. When I ask if they can resubmitt the bill but w/o insurance so that I can be eligible for assistance they also say no. Then I call billing and ask supervisor ******* if they can help at all or work with me on the bill they say no they don't help with post-insurance bills. To summarize, Sutter refuses to tell you how much a service costs to a vulnerable patient in the dr.s room whos being recommended something, then when you get an outrageous surprise bill (surprise at amount, I was expecting a $10-$25 normal copay) they lie and say to apply for financial assistance then deny your financial assistance claim since you have insurance, but they wont resubmitt the original bill without insurance so that you can be eligible for the assistance, and they wont offer any reduction or help with the bill that you're stuck with. Perfectly designed to keep patient in the dark and forced to pay out of pocket despite insurance. They also contract with Quest Diagnostics who upon submitting an assistance claim, were able to help greatly with a separate bill amount I had even though they CHARGED THE INSURANCE as well, so its not like its out of the realm of possibility to help with post-insurance bill, its just sutters policy that prevents it. I submitted all the possible proof of my financial situation to sutter already, they should be able to help in some way.

      Business Response

      Date: 05/30/2024

      A Sutter Representative reviewed this concern.  Provider did recommend the test due to symptoms presented. The patient always has the right to refuse a service if they are concerned about cost and OOP expense and reschedule once cost and benefits are verified.  Please note that the physician is not going to know the patients benefit plan;  therefore, the patient is advised that they can ask the physician for the Procedure Code and Diagnosis Code prior to receiving service so they can contact her insurance and make an informed decision before having the services rendered.  This patient has active insurance and therefore Balance after insurance is excluded from Physician Billing Charity ******************** balance was applied to the patient deductible. We did post our contractual adjustment however we are unable to discount or submit as if patient has not insurance.  The Sutter Representative left 2 voicemails for the patient and close this matter with sending a letter. 

      Customer Answer

      Date: 05/31/2024

      I am rejecting this response because: This is just yet another generic scripted response from Sutter that doesn't address the context, nuance, or actual issue of the situation. In Sutters response they say "the patient is advised that they can ask for the procedure code so they can contact insurance" but I was NEVER advised of that, and its unfair to expect a patient to be in the doctors office and know to ask for that and have to make another appointment and give Sutter even more money to come back after checking with insurance. Sutter did not address any of my points they just repeated what i said about the ************ not being applied. SUTTER WONT TELL YOU THE ***** OF A SERVICE, THEN SENDS AN OUTRAGEOUS BILL, WONT LET YOU RESUBMIT IT W/O INSURANCE TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR CHARITY CARE, AND WONT OFFER ANY SORT OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE WHATSOEVER. PERFECT SCHEME. And whoever responded to this BBB complaint from Sutter making a point about leaving 2 voicemails is laughable as if im going to get on the phone with them a 7th time to be told the same exact scripted generic unhelpful robotic word salad response I was told the first 6 times. They only started to respond once they realized they werent going to get paid.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:05/17/2024

      Type:Product Issues
      Status:
      Unanswered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      During my initial visit with ****************************, a dermatologist with Sutter Health in *************, regarding what I believed to be a facial wart, he unwarrantedly mentioned cancer. Despite my pleas for caution, ************ persisted. He dismissed my attempts to provide early photos of the growth, ignored my explanation that it had decreased in size, and labeled me as rude.************ presented me with only 2 optionskeeping the growth or undergoing a biopsyexaggerating the consequences of not removing it. Feeling like I had no other options, I opted for removal. The biopsy results indicated lichenoid actinic keratosis; ************ called it pre-skin cancer. However, medical journals contradict this. Following the visit, I received an unexpectedly high bill.During a subsequent appointment, ************ defensively responded to my concerns about billing practices, eventually admitting to requesting an external company to bill me for the biopsy.I asked permission to video call my spouse (insurance holder). Again, ************ deflected blame and discredited my concerns, but my spouse remained unconvinced by his tactics, especially when he falsely claimed to have explained possible deductibles before the biopsy. ************ attempted to talk over me, hoping my wife would believe his version. When she asked for an explanation of how he charged, he revealed that he also charges based on time. At that point, I immediately tried to leave his office, but he tightly held onto my phone.The following day, he authored a false report where he portrayed the patient as dishonest, disrespectful, and unreasonable, claimed that I consistently interrupted his counseling on both occasions, and repeated the false claims about deductibles. Additionally, he stated that his assistant heard the entire exchange. However, no one was in the office or its vicinity when I left. I am determined to seek justice for the unprofessional and unethical conduct exhibited by ************.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:04/16/2024

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Unanswered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      On 3/8/2024, I went to ******* Health for my breast mammogram annual exam. Few days later, the radiologists requested me to return for an additional exam in order to complete the evaluation of my 2nd mammogram on 3/25/24 which came out result was "normal". The 1st mammogram cost of the service date on 3/8/2024 was covered 100% by my ********** PPO, but I need to pay $511.06 (Deductible and Co-insurance) for the 2 mammogram exam on 3/25/24.I have been diagnosed breast high density over 5 years at Sutter Health and have annual check every year. The staff at Sutter Health should take the clear images during the 1st mammogram procedure. Sutter Health should not transfer their staff's dereliction of duty to the patient. The bill of $511.06 should not be patient's responsibility.As a patient, not only I worried if I may have a breast cancer but suffered the 2nd mammogram procedure. Also, how do we know if Sutter Health wants to make profits from the patient regularly during annual exams in the future? I am very concern if this situation will happen every year for any annual exams.

    • Initial Complaint

      Date:04/15/2024

      Type:Billing Issues
      Status:
      Unanswered
      Resolved:
      The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
      Unresolved:
      The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
      Answered:
      The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
      Unanswered:
      The business failed to respond to the dispute.
      Unpursuable:
      BBB is unable to locate the business.
      Sutter Medical Group in Folsom (2575 E ******* St # ***, Folsom, CA *****) keeps billing me for copays that i have either paid already or there should not be any copay as it as is a follow up appointment that is covered from insurance without copay.

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