1996 Annual Report
President's Letter
Building a health care system to serve, and to last....
Much more is involved in our new campus than the buildings as impressive as those will be. Construction is now underway on our $100-million-plus campus on El Camino Real and we expect it to be completed by late 1998 under the able guidance of Project Director Nicholas Sica and PAMF Real Estate Manager David Jury.
Behind the scenes for the past several years, hundreds of PAMF physicians, nurses, support staff and administrators have been working to build a health care system that will last well into the next century as our present facilities and operations have served us and the community so well for most of the 20th Century. Their work forms the real foundation on which the new campus will be constructed.
There was a complete reexamination of all the processes and systems in PAMF's Health Care Division to assure they are as effective and efficient as possible, a continuing process led by planning administrator Jenifer Turnbull and others, including Associate Administrator Kathy Korbholz, who is profiled this year. Their efforts were a major factor in the maximum accreditation of PAMF in 1996 by both major national accrediting organizations. An offhand comment by an auditor for an HMO made all of us extra proud: This place is wonderful. I would bring my family here....
The 1996 Patient Satisfaction Survey showed a steady improvement over already very high levels of satisfaction, measured annually. Especially high marks went to the professionalism, warmth and friendliness of physicians and staff a tribute to many small improvements and to people who care about people throughout the organization.
The Research Institutehighly respected nationally and internationally as a biomedical research facilityhas continued its research at the molecular evel, complete with a new generation of younger scientists such as Sungshin Choi, also profiled this year. Plans also include creation of a department of health policy research, a vitally important subject today, to coincide with the opening of the new campus in late 1998.
The Education Division is actively expanding its collaborative outreach into the community, including the opening in 1996 of its highly successful Women's Health Resource Center, staffed by nurse/educator June Badal, R.N., and several programs on family communications and the well-being of adolescents.
All of this is being played out against a national backdrop of the managed care revolution, in which we are engaged along with patients, payors, hospitals and others involved in health care. By combining compassion and efficiency, group-practice traditions and a not-for-profit philosophy, we believe we are demonstrating how managed care can work for everyone. We know we can deliver quality care using fewer resources while keeping the patient's welfare paramount. In doing so, we can keep the delivery of health care in the private sector and avoid the alternative of a government-dominated system. The key is the people involved, such as those profiled in this report.
Chauncey E. Schmidt
Chairman, Board of Trustees
Robert W. Jamplis, M.D.
President and CEO