5 responses to “Hospital Open for Business — Finally”

1. KRN

   May 15, 2011

   Don’t say this wasn’t presented during construction. Despite all the glamor, Sutter Medical has already established a medial MONOPOLY in Sacramento and would like to do the same here. Why would we want to have more than one technician, that would cost more money. If you don’t like the service at Peninsula, you can go to another Sutter Medical facility nearby.

2. Anne

   May 15, 2011

   ……Kaiser……duopoly, perhaps, but not monopoly.

3. KRN

   May 16, 2011

   You can only use Kaiser if you have Kaiser insurance. All non-Kaiser patients must use the alternative where Sutter influences prices. Sutter has market power in the region and does set prices. Sutter’s prices do not influence the Kaiser market since once rates are set for the year and patients are enrolled in a plan, they can’t switch.
   Do Kaiser and Sutter really compete? Once a year when there is open enrollment on insurance, but otherwise… you’re stuck.
   Sutter Health paying the full bill for the new hospital was a sweet deal… we just haven’t figured out who is getting the deal and who is paying the bill.
   Sutter can charge these prices because it has acquired more than a third of the market in the San Francisco-to-Sacramento region through more than 20 hospital takeovers in the last 30 years.
   We knew Sutter’s market power when we approved the hospital.
   http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-20/hospital-monopolies-ruin-mri-bill-as-sutter-gets-price-it-wants
   “After Mark Logsdon tore a ligament in his knee skiing at Lake Tahoe in March, he returned home to suburban Sacramento and had an MRI scan at Sutter Davis Hospital.
   Sutter’s price for the knee scan was $1,271, payable by Logsdon and his insurer. Exactly the same MRI at one of the local imaging centers owned by Radiological Associates of Sacramento would have cost $696 — 45 percent less.
   : Sutter Health Co., the nonprofit that owns Sutter Davis, has market power that commands prices 40 to 70 percent higher than its rivals per typical procedure — and pacts with insurers that keep those prices secret.
   Sutter can charge these prices because it has acquired more than a third of the market in the San Francisco-to-Sacramento region through more than 20 hospital takeovers in the last 30 years, according to executives of Aetna Inc., Health Net Inc. and Blue Shield of California, who asked not to be named because their agreements with Sutter ban disclosure of prices.

4. KRN

   May 16, 2011

   September 21, 2004
   It was a monopoly when it started.
   http://www.burlingamevoice.com/2004/09/sutters-monopoly-on-peninsula-healthcare

5. jennifer

   May 16, 2011

   http://audetlaw.com/index.php/case/sutter_health_billing?source=google&campaign=SUTTER&_kk=sutterhealth&_kt=3f34975e-c2ed-49e8-8709-d465983f7f0b
   “According to allegations in a recently filed lawsuit, Sutter Health routinely charged insurers for anesthesia services that were never performed, and double-billed for services that were performed.
   Even more recently, the California State Insurance Commissioner filed a motion to intervene in this lawsuit.
   Hospitals typically charge about $150 to $250 for anesthesia services, which generally covers the cost for a technician to prepare the operating room. Anesthesiologists typically are not employed by hospitals and charge insurers separately for their services. However, the filed lawsuit alleges that Sutter Hospitals routinely billed insurers $3,000 to $5,000 for anesthesia services. According to the plaintiffs in the filed lawsuit, Sutter Health Network allegedly charged insurers even if the anesthesiologist had charged a separate fee and in some cases when no anesthesia had been used.”