Running head: SUTTER HEALTH 1The California Sutter Health ApproachNameACC281The California Sutter Health ApproachThe purpose of this paper is to outline the steps that California’s Sutter Health, health care organization has taken to assure that their patients and families can afford health care. DueSUTTER HEALTH 2to the increase in costs and the inability to collect payments, there have been many financial rollercoaster rides with the budgeting and patient collections. This has caused a struggle on the organization to meet operational margins, and profits.There are a number of reasons for this newincrease in patient debts.The more common are, poor accounting practices, lack of patient information and correct patient demographics. Patients are not able to be reached. As a result, they are working on and redesigning all of their management and account processes while striving to keep the healthcare affordable for their patients and the families.Sutter Health is a not-for-profit health system that provides health care to over 100 Northern California cities and towns (Souza & McCarty, 2007). Sutter Health is composed of hospitals, physician organizations and other health care service providers that share resources and expertise to advance health care quality. They have grown from a small independent health care facility in Sacramento to one of the largest health care providers today. In 2006, Sutter Health, one of Northern California's largest providers, committed to giving its patient financial services (PFS) staff the necessary tools to improve patient collections. After reading the details of the financial approach, it showed that the staff began working towards the registration staff with its aim at transferring back end functions to the front end so they would make the norm.The hospitals' accounting system did not allow managers to isolate and analyze select data or generate reports on demand to the level of detail required. Instead, the region relied on a specially trained programmer to develop these reports, often leading to costly delays in identifying and correcting problems.SUTTER HEALTH 3Even though there are uninsured individuals, “more than 80 percent of uninsured people come from working families (Souza, 2007)”. Many of these people have the means to pay for hospital services but are not requested to pay out the funds.This paper will discuss how one health care organization, California’s Sutter Health, has taken steps to correct this issue. Sutter Health primary purpose is to offer discount or charity discount to the uninsured, and make the cost of health care more affordable. This paper will also analyze the accounting practices put into place by Sutter Health and the financial achievement the facility has created. ReferencesSUTTER HEALTH 4Facilities; Sutter Health plans $6.6 billion investment in northern California healthcare services. (2006). Health & Medicine Week, 657-657.Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/207104982?accountid=32521.Facilities; Sutter Health plans $6.6 billion investment in northern California healthcare services. (2006). Aging & Elder Health Week, , 51-51. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/211530791?accountid=32521Facilities; Sutter Health plans $6.6 billion investment in northern California healthcare services. (2006). Managed Care Weekly Digest, , 35-35. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/210645164?accountid=32521Rauber, C. (1995). Merger talks initiated between CHS and Sutter. San Francisco Business Times, 9(35), 1-1. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/227664921?accountid=32521CPMC & St. Luke’s commit to sustain health care services in the San Francisco south of market area. (2005, Sep 26). Business Wire. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/445358741?accountid=32521Larkin, H. (2004). From the Storeroom to the Boardroom.Hospitals & Health Networks, 78(10), 64-6, 68. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/215310888?accountid=32521Johnson, V. R., Hummel, J., Kinninger, T., & Lewis, R. F. (2004). Immediate steps toward patient safety. Healthcare Financial Management, 58(2), 56-61. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/196369604?accountid=32521SUTTER HEALTH 5Dorsey Griffith Scripps-McClatchy, W. S. (1996, Dec 26). Health care systems join to make newapproach. Daily News. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/281572076?accountid=32521Riley, J. F., & Heath, S. R. (1992). Quality improvement means better productivity. Healthcare Executive, 7(3), 19-21. Retrieved from