The Palo Alto Medical Foundation for Health Care, Research, and Education (PAMF) is a

not-for-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

health care organization with medical offices in more than 15 cities in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

. It has more than 900 physicians and had over 2 million patient visits in 2008.

History

The history of the group dates back to 1930, when Dr. Russel Van Arsdale Lee founded the Palo Alto Medical Clinic (PAMC). Within a few years, several physicians joined Dr. Lee, including Edward F. Roth, Blake C. Wilbur, Herbert Niebel, Milton Saier and Esther Clark, one of the first female physicians in the country. In 1946 — before

health plan Health policy can be defined as the "decisions, plans, and actions that are undertaken to achieve specific healthcare goals within a society".World Health Organization''Health Policy'' accessed 22 March 2011(Web archive)/ref> According to the ...

s were standard business — PAMC agreed to provide medical care to nearby

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

students in exchange for a flat fee. In 1950, it became one of the first facilities in the nation to offer

radiation therapy Radiation therapy or radiotherapy, often abbreviated RT, RTx, or XRT, is a therapy using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer treatment to control or kill malignant cells and normally delivered by a linear accelerator. Rad ...

for cancer patients in an

outpatient A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health care ...

setting. In 1981, the for-profit physician group PAMC created the not-for-profit PAMF to control its operations and assets, and in 1993, PAMF became an affiliate of

Sutter Health Sutter Health is a not-for-profit integrated health delivery system headquartered in Sacramento, California. It operates 24 acute care hospitals and over 200 clinics in Northern California. Sutter Hospital Association was founded in 1921 as a r ...

, a not-for-profit organization with

hospitals A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

and medical groups in Northern California. In 1999, it was a very early adopter of an

electronic health record An electronic health record (EHR) is the systematized collection of patient and population electronically stored health information in a digital format. These records can be shared across different health care settings. Records are shared throu ...

system. In 2008, PAMF's three medical groups — Camino Medical Group, Palo Alto Medical Clinic, and Santa Cruz Medical Clinic — merged to form a single medical group, Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group (PAFMG). In 2017, the Peninsula Medical Clinic (PMC) of Burlingame, joined PAFMG as the Mills Peninsula Division of the medical group.

Education and research

In addition to its Health Care Division, PAMF consists of an Education Division and Research Institute. The Education Division provides classes, lectures, support groups and consultations, and manages PAMF's Community Health Resource Centers located in several Bay Area cities. The Research Institute, located in Palo Alto, has more than 30 staff members conducting

clinical studies Clinical trials are prospective biomedical or behavioral research studies on human participants designed to answer specific questions about biomedical or behavioral interventions, including new treatments (such as novel vaccines, drugs, dietar ...

in four departments: health services,

clinical research Clinical research is a branch of healthcare science that determines the safety and effectiveness ( efficacy) of medications, devices, diagnostic products and treatment regimens intended for human use. These may be used for prevention, treatm ...

health policy Health policy can be defined as the "decisions, plans, and actions that are undertaken to achieve specific healthcare goals within a society".World Health Organization''Health Policy'' accessed 22 March 2011(Web archive)/ref> According to the ...

research, and cardiovascular physiology and

biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. ...

. In 2009, the National Institutes of Health awarded the institute more than $2 million in federal stimulus grants through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. PAMF provides an e-health service that allows patients to view their records and test results from their personal computers, and request appointments and prescription renewals online. In 2008, it launched a pilot program to promote online communication between diabetic patients and their health care providers.

Structure

PAMF is a multi-specialty group practice, comprising physicians from all of the usual specialties. It is part of the Sutter Health Bay Area Operating Unit, which also includes Mills Peninsula Health Services, Menlo Park Surgical Hospital, and Sutter Maternity and Surgical Center of Santa Cruz. PAMF is governed by the Sutter Health Peninsula Coastal Region Board of Directors and a Community Board of Trustees. Its physicians are led by the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Group Board of Directors. The group's administration is headed by a Chief Executive Officer, and presidents of the five geographical divisions: Santa Cruz, Palo Alto, Camino, Alameda and Mills Peninsula.

Awards

*In 1980, Anne A. Scitovsky, longtime affiliate researcher and economist, was elected a member of the

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly called the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, En ...

*In 1983, Robert W. Jamplis, former president and CEO (1981–1999) of the foundation was elected to the

*In 2009, PAMF was named a top performer by the Integrated Healthcare Association, which ranks California medical groups on clinical quality, patient experience, use of information technology and coordinated diabetes care. *In 2009, its Chief Medical Information Officer, Dr. Paul Tang, was listed on Modern Healthcare's list of 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare.

References

External links

PAMF Web Site

Sutter Health Web Site
{{Authority control Clinics in California Medical and health foundations in the United States Healthcare in the San Francisco Bay Area Sutter Health Non-profit organizations based in Palo Alto, California