Sutter Health Reviews 66

Started receiving invoices for medical services not rendered from an out of state location back in November. (mind you I'm not a patient) I made a few courtesy calls to customer service to let them know of the issue. Continued receiving bills over the following 5 months ultimately receiving a call from a collections company. I called sutter health again with the customer service agent telling me there was nothing she could do. I insisted on speaking with a manager who I did speak to and took the matter more seriously to resolve it. No process in place to mitigate their own billing errors. Finally received an apology letter in June '24 admitting fault and dismissing the case. Causes speculation how they're managing their medical practice information and admin.

Provider name on invoice:
Christopher Adamo Russo DO Hospitalist
Osteopathic Physician and Surgeon
california license: 20A12554

My visit with Dr. Budati was not what I was wishing it would be. I waited months to get this appointment since I had switched insurance plans, and was excited to finally come in today. The appointment was rushed, I was told I could only address two concerns outside of the appointment and what it involves itself, and I was made to feel ashamed about my weight. I am currently in graduate school to become a marriage and family therapist, and have always cared deeply about mental health and wellness. It is clear that she does not think about how her words can affect people’s mental health or even trigger their traumas. Dr. Budati rushed through my appointment, and then swiveled in her chair, adjusting the computer monitor for me to see, saying “now I am going to discuss your weight. I am going to put you on a low carb diet, okay?” She had not asked me one thing about my body yet involving exercise, diet, or anything. This was a total whiplash and unexpected change in topic which I gave no consent to discussing. She just assumed that because I have more body fat, I am unhealthy. I eat a healthy diet now and lift heavy weights at a gym for two hours at a time at least four days a week. I also work an active job and garden regularly. I am the healthiest I have been in years. But she saw my body, and made assumptions. She, without asking, told me she was putting me on a low carb diet, and proceeded to tell me to intermittently fast, never eat past 5PM, stop eating pasta and potatoes (I rarely do) and to stop drinking juice (I cannot remember the last time I drank juice within the last year). She told me that in a few months if I haven’t lost weight there are “medications to help with that.” All the while, she never stopped to ask if I had concerns or questions…she just dumped this all on me without any room for me to speak. That is so terribly unhealthy and toxic for the mind. I did not ask her for advice, or about how to shrink myself. All I wanted was a normal checkup and referral to an OBGYN. It is rude to tell someone who has extra weight to shrink themselves with medications without them asking for it. After all of this when she was about to leave, she said that she should’ve asked if I ever had an eating disorder or if I currently do…well a little too late. It turns out I do struggle with disordered eating reminiscent of a binge eating disorder I’ve struggled with for over a decade. I have trauma around diet culture and body shaming, and she completely reignited those awful thoughts about myself. She, though maybe not intentionally, was very fatphobic towards me today and it caused me to cry on my way home. Her lack of awareness can easily send people in a downward spiral or even cause a relapse in eating disorders for some. She needs to educate herself on how to deal with clients of all different diverse body types. In this appointment, she also told me she signed me up for HIV testing because I have tattoos (they were done in professional studios using medical grade equipment that was freshly opened when I got them done, as every single legitimate shop does). I did not appreciate her making this assumption especially because I am gay and indicated so on my chart. I cannot help but wonder if she assumed I have HIV because I am gay. She made many assumptions about me based on my weight, sexuality, and the way I present myself, all of which are false. I usually do not like to complain, but this is all beyond unacceptable.

Sutter Health is a large bureaucracy that is using technology to reduce its costs.
Unfortunately this causes its services to be impersonal and risks patient health.
I would recommend choosing another health care provide who allows contact with staff outside of a cell-phone/laptop application.

This hospital needs to shut down. They have very poor hospitality very poor service all from out of town not from California and I ran out of phone charge and nobody at the hospital wouldn’t help me none of the staff not even the police at the hospital they sent me off the property to another place to see if I can get my phone charged at night time. I could have gotten hurt in the street at night being a woman, I’m walking bone on bone on a walker With knee pain under doctors care, but this hospital Sutter didn’t care at all. I wouldn’t take my dog to Sutter or a baby. Very poor hospital 👎

Many of us spend fortunes paying for medical care, even when our needs are relatively minor. I expected more today when during a call to investigate a billing issue, at 5 , I was simply sent to an after hours voice mail without warning as to the fact they were finished helping me, with zero courtesy, manners, ethics or respect. Must be nice to be in your business. Some of us have to earn our business. Enjoy the free ride rude medical employees.

Consistently I struggle with Sutter...
Every time there is an order put through for an appt that they tell me I will be phoned to schedule...I wait and wait, only to find no one calls.

So I call...and every single time there is a run around because of it. Additionally there are not enough providers, pushing care out incredibly far. Your best best is to go to the ER...as within Sutter good luck getting a same week let alone same month appt with your regular Physician.

Sutter - step it up, please for all of our sakes!

I had to put one star to write.
I’ve been in medical field 17 yrs., never have I experienced this level of slap shot doctors. No transparency or any real communication from doctor staff. Horrible treatment resulted in two unnecessary procedures done during stay. It was a wild 16 days of mismanagement. Go to UC Davis pleaseeee

Beware! If you're gay. Urologist Dr. Kirk M Anderson will be deceitful and not forthcoming and will perform unnecessary surgery on you not telling you the risks and side effects of the surgery or what the surgery
entails. He'll do a type of surgery you told him you didn't want for profit, maiming you for life, then lie about it stating it's what you asked for, thus causing a crime under the guise of surgery knowing I could not file a police report on a hate crime as it falls under malpractice knowing I could never afford a lawyer with my meager means trying to find one in a year so the clock runs out on a law suit. So he gets away with out being held accountable. This man should be behind bars in prison for his hate crime.
From my experience there's too many haters there, for which something definitely should be done about it as they'll all turn against you and side with their majority for the Dr. Who committed the hate crime. Patient relations is another dept useless in correcting the damage done. Going on 3 years now as of 01/06/2022 to resolve. Nothing but empty promises that a Mgr will call me which never happens. Not even a letter stating why they won't surgically correct the problem they caused and why they won't provide me with restitution when they're able to. They are only interested in the unholy dollar and removing organ parts without your knowledge or proper consent. Sutter has no Shame or they would have helped me if they were decent. To harm someone ruining their quality life going against their personal medical choices and decisions when you're 62 years old disabled, morbidly obese, of mixed ethnicity, gay and married to another man at the time, which haters can't stand is wrong on so many levels, then to disrespect you by putting you down with insults then writing Dear John letters to get rid of you telling you to go somewhere else like UCDAVIS to fix their problem is 100% completely unprofessional and evil. No one wants to be a victim, but there's no such thing as a victimless crime! I'll be dealing with CPTSD the rest of my life finding out the horror of what Sutter did caused by Dr. Kirk M Anderson from which I almost died from an improper Turp. 3 uti in a row after then a testicle epidemitis orchides. I went against their advice to remove it for which I'm glad as it resolved itself. They also wanted to remove my prostate saying I had prostate cancer which 4 other urologists tell me they can't find any prostate cancer. I'm glad I didn't listen to Sutter on that either. 10 months after Sutter's Turp I inquired with UCDAVIS why all the bad health from it. I was told my bladder neck was removed which reignited my CPTSD finding out a part of my anatomy was removed without my knowledge or consent 10 months earlier.
Also a Sutter Dr. Told me while hospitalized from epidemitis orchides that the reason that happened was because the Dr. Who did the Turp was way too rough doing it.
Date of experience. 01/06/2022

I'm now back on the phone with Sutter Health. As you may know, last time I called Sutter Health to schedule an appointment with a new PCP, they told me the doc was taking new patients, but they could not verify my insurance. So I had to call TriNet myself, get them to validate that Sutter Health takes the insurance, and then call Sutter Health back, with TriNet, for a three way call. Which I did. When I called back, the good news was that Sutter Health agreed that they take our insurance. However the bad news was that this new Sutter Health operator now told me that the doc I hoped to book with was no longer taking new patients. So ... I have now found a new doctor who will take me on ... but when I called Sutter Health, they are telling me (again) that they can't validate our insurance ... so I've been on hold for the past 15 mins (and counting) as they try to validate it.
This feels like a really bad joke, and I'm the punchline
... and ... 20 minutes in, the operator came back on, and said the following:
Still not able to verify the insurance. Our insurance is Blue Shield. It's not like it's a fly by night / unknown insurance
Realized she does not do the scheduling for this particular doctor, so she has to transfer me to a new operator ... and ...
Once that transfer happens, the other operator will also have to verify the insurance coverage
Sutter Health has no way of tracking the fact that the prior operator validated the insurance coverage (with TriNet on the phone) ... so every time I call in, I have to go through this.

Anyone wanting to use Sutter Health Weight Loss Program beware of their scam! Once you enter the program it's great. The doctor is great. However, Sutter Health scams the patient through an extreme excessive amount of RN and nutritionist visits (overkill) that are sure to bankrupt you. I simply could not afford RN visits every two weeks to ask me how I'm doing. Something the weight loss doctor should be able to ask me!!! If you miss three RN visits, they kick you out of the program unless you agree to go BANKRUPT! NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THE AVERAGE MIDDLE CLASS OR POOR. Save your money and go through your Primary Doctor instead. A total RIP OFF

Fremont PAMF is worst medical hospital. Overall system highly dysfunctional. Doctors extremly careless and rely upon google's details. They don't have any inputs other then sharing the google links.

I went in for a general check-up with a NP and she convinced me to get bloodwork exams done claiming they would be "preventative" but instead marked them as "diagnostic". For those who don't know your insurance will not cover anything under diagnostic and therefore you will have to pay out of pocket. I was coerced into doing them although I didn't want to. But because I trusted this provider (first time visitor) I went along with her advice. I find out a month later I would be billed over $1200 and my insurance wouldn't cover more than a quarter of it. After 40+ hours of discussions with the hospital billing team, care team and my insurance billing team, it looks like the only thing I can do is to eat the cost and be liable for misinformation from the provider. I am extremely disappointed that the provider used information to paint a story around how I was overweight and liable for diabetes, therefore justifying bloodwork exams at my expense. She didn't inform me of the repercussions and forced what she thought I needed down my throat ignoring what I wanted. If that's the type of medical help you'd like do visit this place.

The parking situation at the Sutter Roseville campus is an absolute disaster. To make patients panic about where they can park (worse than downtown Sacramento) is absolutely unacceptable. I’m pregnant and trying to valet is even a shitshow. There is cars everywhere, no one knows where to go. There is absolutely no reason this should have planned better. I shouldn’t have to show up an hour before my appt to find a place to park or to get in a valet line with 1 person working. This is just horrible patient care and a Horrible experience. Get this figured out!!!!!! You should all be fired for how you handled this.

This is for the Billing Department. I was charged $6,000. Sutter Health is not allowing my insurance company to pay the bill. Not only that, a $20 copay was rolled into the $6,000 payment, not allowing me to pay the $20 that is due before the final date for the $6,000 charge. Go figure!

My daughter visited Citrus Heights ca walk in clinic. Making a long three day event short for you, the MA didn’t know to chart her immunization the second MA threw papers at us that’s Lisa, and the so called supervisor set us up to be disenrolled which is what they did by the way the PA surjit Najar misread my tb test and they then treated us like criminals. Wow all for a school vaccine. The most Astonishing experience ever avoid sutter. Best hospital??? How much did they pay for that?? Avoid that Citrus Heights ca clinic as well. Call Dr David Siendenwurm see if he will stop hiding. Incompetent in all areas

As a new patient, I can’t seem to get in to a doctor to be seen for an issue that may be cancer. The soonest appointment they can find is 2 months out. I was told that it’s because they have to schedule a new patient visit. Premiums are very high and not being able to get health care makes paying them more painful. With my previous insurance I was able to go straight to the specialist I needed. Now I get to wait 2-6 months to see a primary and then who knows how long to get in to the specialist. Tried to go to urgent care, but their appointments booked up while I was on hold first thing in the AM and the walk-in appointments fill to capacity first thing in the morning also. Wasted 2 days trying to navigate that system. I should probably cancel my insurance so my kids can afford my funeral expenses.this is not healthcare. This feels like a scam.

I recently received the covid vaccine fall of 2023 from Sutter. I was naive, I admit and own that. I did not ask the cost. I was shocked to receive a bill of $284 which included the name of a doctor I have never met. It feels like a con. How can they reference a doctor that I have never seen on my bill? So sad. What is even sadder is that it feels as if the covid vaccine is now for only those that can afford it.

I which I can give them zero star. My doctor ordered a MRI in December 2022. In early January, the doctor contacted me indicated that she should have ordered the MRI with contrast instead of without contrast; thus the original MRI on 12/5/22 was not clear. The radiologist suggested that I have another follow up MRI. I originally disagreed since I did not want to pay for another $325 copay for the second MRI. After several calls and emails with my doctor, she said I do not need a full MRI, just a subset of the MRI (5 minutes scan) which I did on 1/25/23.

When I got the bill for the service on 1/25/23 in the amount of $2,535, I thought that make sense since the original MRI was billed for $1,993, so the updated bill of $2,535 should have covered for not only the original MRI on 12/5, but also included the additional cost for the subset MRI on 1/25/23. I agreed and paid for the $325 copayment in March.

Apparently Sutter Health went back to Anthem and dispute the bill on 12/5/22 in the amount of $1,993 which had already billed and included in the bill submitted to Anthem on 1/25/23. Sutter Health now claims that I owe another $325 copay for he duplicated bill.

I don’t mind paying for service rendered, but disagreed with billing errors that cause me to pay for the copayment twice. I would appreciate if the billing staff can follow up and check the medical procedures that were done and properly correct the billing issues.

At this point I have to advise people to just go somewhere else. Please. For your health.

My 99 year-old mother broke her hip. She was sent home at 6 PM with a prescription for some pain medication. The pharmacies were all closed. Nothing within a 30 mile round trip was open 24 hours. Long story short, it was almost 24 hours from the time we entered the system until she had her pain meds. Everything at Sutter is geared to their convenience, nothing for the patient.

Another Sutter story. I presented at one of their urgent care centers with severe abdominal pain. I was told to go home and eat some probiotics as i had nothig more than gastroenteritis. 18 months later I found out that I had somewhat advanced colon cancer. They never screened me for that.

Few months ago I had to seek Urgent Health Care @ Stutter. Before returning home doctor advised me to visit next day to ascertain my vitals were normal.
I had a regular job and had one of the best insurance coverage too.
But I got slapped with a $611.00 bill.
I was also charged for the next days visit. Had I known I would have skipped the 2nd visit.
Next time, I have opted to DIE than visit Urgent Care or ER and I also informed my kids on my decision.