Key concession demands at various Sutter hospitals (partial list):

• Eliminating paid sick leave, effectively forcing nurses to work when ill, exposing already frail and vulnerable patients to further infection.
• Forcing RNs to work in hospital areas for which they do not have appropriate clinical expertise, again a safety risk for patients.
• Huge increases in nurses’ out-of-pocket costs for health coverage for themselves and family members.
• Limits on the ability of charge nurses, who make clinical assignments for nurses, to address staffing shortages, subjecting patients to the danger of unsafe staffing.
• Forcing RNs to work overtime, exposing patients to care from fatigued nurses who are more prone to making medical errors.
• Cutting the rest time between shifts to 6 hours, an unsafe precedent for patients and the hospital workforce.
• Eliminating all health coverage for nurses who work less than 30 hours per week and slashing the pay in lieu of benefits for all non-benefited nurses.-- 435 RNs and 31 Techs would lose all health coverage at Alta Bates Summit, and 100 RNs at Eden in San Leandro.
• Reduced pregnancy and family medical leave, undermining RN families.

Sutter does not need to make these drastic cuts:

• Sutter has accumulated nearly $4.2 billion in profits since 2005, according to its own audited financial statements.
• Sutter is among the wealthiest hospital chains in the U.S. – and has the highest net patient revenue per employees among U.S. hospital systems, according to a Modern Healthcare survey
• Sutter paid 28 top executives more than $1 million in compensation, an aggregate $46.7 million in 2010 alone, by far the most lavish spending on executives among all California hospital systems.
• Sutter is presently building a massive new, 300,000 square foot administrative office center in Roseville, another sign of its expansive wealth, and spending away from the bedside.
• Sutter is spending tens of millions of dollars on a questionable computerized electronic medical system, Epic Systems, the same controversial system that has been charged with putting patients at risk at Contra Costa County’s correctional facility

Sutter’s record of abandoning communities and patients (partial list):

• End breast cancer screening for women with disabilities and most bone marrow transplant services for cancer patients at Alta Bates Summit in Oakland and Berkeley.
• Stop providing psychiatric services under contract with Sacramento County for more than 225 Sacramento children.
• Close acute rehabilitation services, skilled nursing care, and psychiatric services, and substantially downgrade nursery care for sick children at Eden Hospital in Castro Valley.
• Sharply cut psychiatric care at Herrick Hospital in Berkeley.
• Close a birthing center at Sutter Auburn Faith, forcing new mothers and families to travel up to 75 miles for obstetrics care, while giving a $1 million gift to the Sacramento Kings.

RNs Strike Friday, May 17th at 5 East Bay Sutter Hospitals

Registered Nurses at Sutter hospitals in Alameda and Contra Costa counties will hold a seven-day strike beginning on May 17 and ending at 7 a.m. May 24 in an effort to step up the message to the hard line East Bay Sutter region to follow the lead of other Sutter facilities and end its attacks on nurses and patients. —California Nurses Association, 05/16/13 More »

State Fines Sutter/Alta Bates Over $84,000 for Willful Failure to Protect Staff, Police Officer

California’s Department of Occupational Health and Safety has fined Sutter corporation’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center for willful misconduct in dangerously exposing staff and police officers to a serious illness that resulted in permanent disabilities for a respiratory tech and an Oakland police officer. More »

Nurses Rally Support To Save San Leandro Hospital

About 125 people gathered at the San Leandro Senior Community Center Tuesday to oppose the feared closure of the hospital by its new owner, Sutter Health. —San Leandro Patch, 05/03/12 More »