Partnership for Sacramento’s Sutter Health will help it expand reach on California coast

Sacramento-based Sutter Health is planning to grow its presence along the Southern California coast through a strategic partnership with Santa Barbara-based Sansum Clinic, an outpatient clinic with roughly 200 physicians who practice in 30-plus specialties.

“Increasing access to much-needed primary care and specialty services is core to Sutter’s community-focused mission and vision,” said Warner Thomas, Sutter Health president and CEO. “Sutter Health has a long history of working closely with medical group physicians to meet the needs of patients and communities, including helping to grow physicians and services at places like Palo Alto Medical Foundation and Sutter Gould. We look forward to doing the same with Sansum to invest in and bring more high-demand services and physicians to the central coast.”

Sutter Health leaders said they were in exclusive discussions on the partnership with Sansum, noting that the company would become a part of Sutter over time. The companies did not refer to the deal as an acquisition.

Most of Sutter’s 53,000 employees work in hospitals, offices and outpatient facilities around Northern California, but the company does have three surgery centers in Southern California, a mental health facility in Hawaii and a call center in Utah.

More than 5,200 physicians practice in Sutter-affiliated organizations, serving 3.3 million patients. The health care system posted operating revenue of roughly $14.8 billion in 2022, according to a report to bondholders.

Sansum has about 1,500 physicians and staff in about three dozen locations around the Santa Barbara region, including at eye centers, pharmacies, cancer treatment facilities, and specialty medical practices for dermatologists, pediatricians, otolaryngologists and more.

Both Sutter and Sansum celebrated 100-year anniversaries in 2021, though some hospitals in the Sutter network have been operating since the 1800s.

Sansum is named for one of its founding physicians, Dr. William David Sansum, who became the first American to isolate, produce and administer insulin to treat diabetes. The company reported a loss of $7.2 million on revenue of about $355 million in 2022, said Sansum spokeswoman Jill Fonte. The company’s LinkedIn profile noted that it logs about 600,000 patient visits in a year.

Sutter and Sansum leaders said they would meet any regulatory approvals that are applicable..

Sansum had previously negotiated a merger with Santa Barbara-based Cottage Health, a health care system operating several hospitals in that area, but they scuttled the deal when it ran into regulatory opposition.