Sutter Health Reviews 65

Poor care, bad customer service, expensive. And their CEO makes 11 million a year - off our money. I am sorry I have had any dealings with them.

Professionals, thorough, low wait time, asked questions, treated me as a human being.

I would like to thank Dr, Bart Dolmatch for his patience time and effort on my behalf. Dr Dolmatch and his staff reflect the excellence of El Camino and Sutter health. Alice H

Why does SUTTER HEALTH have "TOP NATIONAL BEST 50 HOSPITALS' H U M O N G O U S banner on its building - when it is always ranked 1-2 stars on REDDIT and YELP ?

We had FANTASTIC staff in the E R but then had the misfortune of being assigned to the "COMMUNE WING" where we were aligned up like a military war hospital with only curtains dividing 15-20 of us. We "get to" (reality = we have to) listen to ALL the other patients diagnosis and private discussions with their clinical staff and doctors. Doesn't matter the body part or medicine - everybody "here's your sign".

Say goodbye to any privacy for 3 days!

We are moving to a rural area where the ADVENTIST HEALTH has individual or at worst four patients per room.

SUTTER nurses on ER were 10s in bedside manner and amazing efficient focus on medically addressing us.

We feared posting this because choices are limited for medicine services. But we know it's not that hospitals and the medical profession is dying for funding to provide care when patients walk in with paid up healthcare.
We hope the environment can change.

Absolutely horrible experience at CPMC. Bad organization operations and mean staffs. They should put more care into what the patient experience is like there being a patient. I really wish I have other choice. Please do everything to avoid working with them.

IF I COULD GIVE A NEGATIVE STAR I WOULD!!!
Crap for correct billing, refilling prescriptions, and paying my bill, making appointments/checking in.
This is one of the worst apps I have used for health care. I had to call my insurance company today to find out why I was being billed for coverage my insurance says I have - even after 60 days. The payment page was updated for the last two months and still said I owed hundreds and hundreds of dollars, which is almost the full amount. The insurance company I have is good about paying very quickly. I've had the same insurance since 1/2020.
The last app my physicians used was on time and correct with billing. When I spoke to the facility at my PCP office as well as my specialists, I complained and was told I was one of MANY who had and continues to have problems. I wish they would get their "web specialists" on it to fix the bugs! It was bad from the beginning when the healthcare facility switched to this new app. I keep wondering if my personal info will be leaked or I will be overcharged from my account. If I could use a better way of contacting (besides calling or in person) my providers I would.
If you can help it - DO NOT USE THIS APP!!!

I had horrible experience with Sutter hospital in Oakland, California. My daughter was patient of Dr Leann Blankship she had breast cancer in 2018. She was in Southern California so she went through the street treatment, chemo, radiation and surgery. She moved to Northern California and Dr. Blankship was here doctor that she was also working in Sutter hospital in Okland round January 2024 this doctor after her routine check up told her cancer is in Mission and her blood test was excellent. I have a few months two times she went to the hospital. They told her she had pneumonia and they gave her some anti antibiotic and discharge from hospital but the last February she has a lot of pain in her back so she went to the hospital and doctor Blankship kept her less than a month in the hospital without doing any treatment just giving her morphine for pain and then without any treatment she just decided to send her to hospice to die. She doesn’t have any heart. She didn’t try to do her job and such a hospital they forced my daughter to be discharged, and they dumped her hospice. It was not even hospice. It was a house for dementia with no equipment even me and my daughter we didn’t wanna go to that place. They forced us to go there and they came at night that we didn’t have any place to call or any get any help from any anybody? My daughter so heartbeat was 139 and her oxygen was 55 when they discharge her which is illegal to discharge patient which is not in stable condition to the place. There is not any physician waiting for nurse this is against Law in California, but they did this a bunch of mafia soldier Hospital and hospice working together to send people to die. This is the worst hospital I have ever seen in my whole life and I’ve seen 13 so many illegal things just to make money and the only thing I don’t care or patient and people they look at people as an animal not a human being doesn’t matter if a patient is young or old my daughter was very youngso Dr. Blankenship and her team dumped my daughter to elderly home to die I didn’t I think they committed crime i just want other people to know and never ever go to Sutter hospital killing machine.

Billing Department
I’ve been trying to pay a bill and made several phone calls and was transferred and put on hold and told someone would call me back that day which never happened. You would think they would want the bill paid.
I give up Santa Barbara Sutter health billing department.

I had two separate encounters with Dr. Jaspreet Mann, DO, and both were extremely distressing. I was newly diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis and was hospitalized for difficulty breathing and swallowing. Instead of providing reassurance or education about my treatment, Dr. Mann repeatedly told me she had “nothing else to offer” and suggested transferring me to another facility. She did not explain the expected timeline for IVIG to work and was very dismissive in her communication.

Two weeks later, I saw her again in the emergency department for severe trouble swallowing and choking when lying down. She entered the room and greeted me with “What’s up?” which felt inappropriate given the seriousness of my condition. She did not examine me and again immediately stated she had “nothing else to offer” before recommending transfer. She interrupted me when I tried to explain my symptoms and left without addressing my concerns.

This was one of the most frightening experiences I’ve had as a patient. In contrast, when another neurologist evaluated me during the same ER visit, she was kind, compassionate, thorough, and offered clear solutions and support. The difference in care was striking.

BADLY OVERPRICED, they charged $650 just for new patient registration + cost of visit, total $1000 just for one simple doctor appointment

Don't come here. I know it is hard but you are literally better with a medical facility like Livingston Health or *cringe* Golden valley.

You will never see your doctor. They cancel appointments via automated message so there is nothin you can do to reschedule. I have called 3 times to reschedule my appointment and have heard nothing back because you don't get the actual doctor office, you get some customer service person who has no idea what is going on. Once they canceled the same day as my appointment and told me it would be another 6 month wait.

I am thinking of canceling my doctor appointment as I was considering changing my pcp to a Sutter physician. LOL maybe I will wait until she cancels with me cos 2 out of 3 doctors I have seen here have canceled.

Do they not understand that people work and have to request time off? They literally don't care about their patients. Literally don't care if we receive care in a timely manner and they take advantage of the fact they are the only place with specialists in the area.

I am going to reach back out to Adventist health. Even if I have to drive an hour it is better than the stress of dealing with Sutter and having to explain to your boss why your appointments keep changing.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS. Good luck getting anyone to communicate with you or treat you like a person. Doctors constantly dismiss your symptoms and refuse to listen to you, it's utter hell trying to get your prescriptions refilled or see your GP (or any specialists for that matter), and they charge exorbitant fees for absolutely everything, even with stellar insurance. I need to get the hell out of this network, I've had enough.

1. Ask to see your records. My records said that the eye doctor had informed me about incipient cataracts, which he did NOT tell me in person. 2. Assume doctors do not answer calls after noon on Fridays. 3. You will often not be informed about test results. You must call them. Basically all follow up and accuracy of diagnoses of office visits fall on YOU. But if you are reading this, it is too late. Condolences.

From what we saw online I as a business owner I would never recommend this company to anyone.

I have experienced the same issues as all of the other one and two star reviews on Trustpilot. My experience has been at Sutter independent doctors, Sutter Hospitals, Sutter clinics and a Sutter Surgery Center. I didn’t like Sutter Roseville Hospital 31 years ago or any year since, but I was desperate to get surgery for a foot fracture after waiting 7 months! Sutter Health is an impossible bureaucracy and the Sutter System is broken. The climate and culture stinks of unprofessional, unethical behaviors and statements made by supposed health care professionals. The staff, some nurses and doctors should be held accountable.
There is an inadequate grievance and complaint process. When you are able to contact a patient advocate by leaving a phone message and receiving a return call, it’s only after days of playing phone tag that you speak to a rude and annoyed human being. Then, nothing is done to resolve the problem. I was given lip service. There is not a phone number, email or an address to mail a complaint listed anywhere on the Sutter Website. When a patient calls the general phone number, the phone representative refers to the website to file a complaint.
You can file a “sort of” complaint on Sutterhealth.org, but it’s difficult to find.
On the first page of the Website Click the three lines on the top right of the page. Scroll down to “contact us.” It’s at the bottom in small print. Click on it. Then, scroll down to “Comments and Concerns” Click on Comments and Concerns. This is the link to file a complaint and have a patient advocate call you and respond by email. It seems to me transparency may be appropriate. How about a link to complaints and a patient advocate? I suggest ..,go straight to the California Medical Board. Or, ask to speak to a supervisor when you call the general line. You may have to call the supervisor several times to get the patient advocate number, but you will eventually get results, unfortunately, I promise you——you will not find a resolution from the complaint department. Be prepared for retaliation from any person you may be filing a complaint about and make sure you’re prepared to find a new provider. Complaints about unprofessional behavior leads to more unprofessional behavior at Sutter. Also, be prepared to be told inaccuracies about the law and your rights as a patient. The blame will be put on you, the patient, for not requesting a form or knowing how to navigate a system that has no order.
I have a misdiagnosed dislocation fracture of my foot by a Sutter Independent doctor. I was trying to walk on a dislocation/ fracture injury for six months, because I was told it was a sprain and then an ankle ligament problem. One month after the correct diagnosis was made, I requested one prescription of TRAMADOL, so I could sleep at night, because the Motrin, Naproxen and then Celebrex I was prescribed over the previous 7 months was upsetting my stomach. I needed to prepare for surgery. I needed to clean my house which had not been thoroughly cleaned in months. I hired someone to help me, but I was still in pain at night and couldn’t sleep with the little work I tried to accomplish.
I now have Narcotic Drug Use listed in my medical chart. I have tried to have the medical chart amended and I keep getting the run around by Sutter. I am being treated like a drug addict due to pain that Sutter caused and one prescription, A misdiagnosed fracture is excruciating. I think one prescription is reasonable for pain! I never signed a narcotic drug contract for more prescriptions or requested another. I was told by Sutter, it was state law to have me take drug tests for one prescription. It is not state law. It’s Sutter’s policy. Never fill a prescription for any narcotic pain relievers from Sutter Health. Narcotic drug use will follow you for life,
I have no trust in Sutter and I have cancelled all appointments and tests.

This company doesn't provide receipts for any payments. Any time you want a receipt, you have to call. Absolutely ridiculous and should be illegal.

If I could leave less than one star I would.
This review is not about the Doctors, all that I have seen have been a tentative and caring. My issue is with their billing and scheduling. I had a CT scan that their staff did not verify my health insurance and just assumed that they would not have to do pre authorization. They told us that it was approved, we did the scan, and then we found out that my insurance declined the charge. Our insurance said all Sutter had to do was submit a pre-authorization and they would cover the procedure. Sutter refused to submit this and now we are out thousands of dollars.
Our second issue is that now they can't seem to keep our appointments. We have had more than one appointment rescheduled and each time the next available appointment is more than 4 months away. This means we have been waiting almost a year for three appointments to happen. If you are looking for a new doctor, don't look here, go elsewhere.

After a visit with Dr. Reece Fenning, in Sutter hospital Santa Rosa, I discovered my medical record listed “chronic opioid use disorder,” which is completely false — I have never used opioids.

Errors like this are serious. They can follow you across healthcare systems, impact your treatment, and be seen by insurers. I requested a correction immediately and am still waiting for it to be fixed.

If you see this provider, review your records carefully. Accuracy is essential in healthcare.

I’m writing to share an extremely frustrating and disappointing experience with Dr. Davarpanah and Sutter Health that raises serious concerns about their approach to both patient care and billing practices. I went in for what was supposed to be a routine annual exam, only to find out that discussing personal health concerns—even related to existing conditions—is not allowed unless it’s billed as a separate office visit. Seriously? What’s the point of an annual exam if you’re not even allowed to talk about your health?
To make matters worse, I was charged nearly $400 because the doctor on her own decided to increase the dosage of a medication I was already taking. I never brought this up, and it certainly wasn’t based on any recent lab work. The decision was made using outdated blood tests from over a year and a half ago—even though my numbers have remained stable year after year. That’s not just arbitrary—it’s irresponsible.
This entire experience felt impersonal, unfair, and frankly, like a blatant money grab. It’s deeply troubling to see a healthcare system more focused on padding bills than providing thoughtful, patient-centered care. And forget not, Sutter Health is a nonprofit organization. Or should they be called only for profit by scamming the patients they are supposed to treat. If this is how they treat someone trying to proactively manage their health, I fear for how they handle more serious issues.

It’s now been nearly seven months. I’ve been bounced from department to department. I was told an “ethics committee” reviewed the case and stood by the charge. But no one ever contacted me for my side of the story. How can a review be fair when the patient is excluded entirely? The process has been completely opaque and lacking in accountability.
At this point, I feel morally obligated to speak out. In my opinion, Dr. Davarpanah’s actions were unethical, and my trust in both her and Sutter Health is gone. I strongly advise others to think carefully before entrusting their care to this provider or this healthcare system. I will not be returning.