Nov. 20, 2024 (Santa Barbara, CA) Sansum Clinic, now part of Sutter Health, announced today the achievement of 5-star ‘Elite Status’ from America’s Physician Groups (APG), the organization’s highest possible ranking as part of its 2024 Standards of Excellence (SOE®) survey program.  This is the 11th year that APG has awarded this honor to Sansum Clinic. “I am proud to share this honor with our team who regularly exceeds expectations and is completely dedicated each day to providing coordinated, patient-centered, cost-effective care,” said Kurt Ransohoff, M.D., FACP, President, Sutter Health, Greater Central Coast, and former chair of the APG Board of Directors. “We know our work is making a difference in our community, and now, this award ranks Sansum Clinic among some of the highest-performing healthcare organizations in the country which offer value-based care.” 

APG is the nation's leading professional association for accountable physician groups.  Sansum Clinic is one of sixty-eight participating physician groups to receive the top-ranked “Elite” status, the highest recognition, in its 2024 survey. 

“We are thrilled to be recognized for the collective work from our entire care team which allowed us to exceed national standards for quality, accountability and patient experience,” commented Marjorie Newman, M.D., Sansum Clinic Medical Director and Sansum Medical Group Santa Barbara’s Chief Medical Officer. 

The APG survey sets the industry standard for evaluating the sophistication of accountable physician practices and organizations and is among the few tools that allow physician groups to benchmark their accountable care capabilities against their peers. To achieve Elite Status, participant groups must receive five stars in five publicly reported categories: 

1. Population health management 

2. Health information technology 

3. Accountability and transparency 

4. Patient-centered care 

5. Advanced primary care 

6. Administrative and financial capability (Informational only—no public reporting) 

Sansum Clinic, now part of Sutter Health, is the leading nonprofit provider of high-quality, outpatient healthcare on the Central Coast. Both Sansum and Sutter share a century-long commitment to improving the health of their communities and have embarked upon this partnership to shape the future of healthcare for those they serve. Sansum Clinic’s 260+ highly trained clinicians and compassionate staff of 1,200+ care for more than 160,000 individual patients per year. Sansum’s dedication to recruiting new medical specialties to our communities over the last century has contributed significantly to the level of medical quality available in Santa Barbara despite its small size.