Large hospital systems encourage networking and information sharing between facilities. For example, Sutter Health's Patient Care Executive Council meets to evaluate patient satisfaction initiatives under way around the system, said Susan Craig Bumatay, MSN, RN, chair of the council and assistant administrator for clinical integration at Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch. When the council recognized that patient satisfaction was increasing at Sutter hospitals that offered service excellence training for employees, other Sutter facilitates adopted similar programs, she said. As people achieve improvement, we look at what successful tactics they've used. That's what benchmarking is all about.
Large systems can negotiate better deals on equipment and supplies because they buy in bulk.
Because of the size of the corporation we get great pricing on equipment, and it's maintained at a higher level than it would be at an independent facility. When it comes to health care, California is becoming a land of giants. Shaken by the cost-cutting of managed care, healthcare leaders have discovered that strength and clout often have their roots in size. But the big players have different philosophies and strategies that shape the state's healthcare landscape. Given the financial incentives of the '90s, the growth of large systems was inevitable.