January 2008

In order to better serve their patients, the three medical groups affiliated with PAMF – Camino Medical Group (CMG), Palo Alto Medical Clinic (PAMC) and Santa Cruz Medical Clinic (SCMC) – merged into a single medical group on January 1. The merger is among the recent developments at PAMF that will help ensure patients continue receiving the highest quality care now and in the years to come.

"Bringing together the doctors from these three outstanding medical groups will enable us to become even better at what we do, and allow us to add new specialties and services that the three smaller physician groups were not able to add because of their size," said Elizabeth Vilardo, M.D., a PAMF internal medicine physician and board member of the merged medical group.

Although the medical groups legally integrated on January 1, 2008, PAMF will be working throughout the year to ensure the clinical, administrative and technical foundations are in place to allow patients to receive care at any PAMF location, a plan that will go into effect later next year. A committee comprised of PAMF and medical group representatives is already beginning to identify the steps necessary to offer seamless access to care across the network, said Christine Griger, M.D., a PAMF pediatrician and board member of the medical group. This will include the adoption of a single electronic health record that can retrieve a patient’s health information from any PAMF facility.

"Patients have told us again and again that they want the convenience and flexibility of being able to access care easily throughout the PAMF system," said Terrigal Burn, M.D., a PAMF internal medicine physician and board member of the integrated medical group.

This would mean, for example, that a patient who lives in Santa Cruz and works in Mountain View would be able to receive care in both locations – or at any other PAMF facility. PAMF has more than 850 physicians and operates facilities in Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.

"This is absolutely the right thing to do, and the right time to do it," PAMF President and CEO David Druker, M.D., said. "We are convinced that the best way to continue to fulfill our responsibility to the community, and to deal with the challenges we face in health care, such as rising costs, capital demands and physician recruitment, is to form one merged medical group to work in a coordinated fashion with the medical foundation."

PAMF is also working to meet the needs of its patients and the communities it serves by continuing with its plans to bring a world-class medical center and hospital to its patients in San Mateo County. Late last year, the San Carlos City Council unanimously approved PAMF’s plans to build the San Carlos Center, which will offer primary and specialty physician services, an urgent care center, laboratory, X-ray and other testing services, as well as a full-service acute-care hospital with a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week emergency room – all in one location.

The project is planned for 120 physicians, 845 non-physician staff members and 97 hospital beds. PAMF’s primary care clinics in Redwood Shores and Redwood City will also remain open, giving patients a choice for where they receive their care. The San Carlos facility will help to accommodate PAMF’s growing patient demand and help to serve the health care needs of the entire community.

Construction of the San Carlos Center is scheduled to begin in 2009 and be completed in 2012. For more information about PAMF’s San Carlos Center and the updated project design, visit www.pamf.org/sancarlos.