MemorialCare Medical Foundation Physician Groups Achieve Top Rating in Statewide Excellence Program

ORANGE/LOS ANGELES COUNTIES, Calif., June 18, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --MemorialCare Medical Group and Greater Newport Physicians—two medical groups associated with MemorialCare Medical Foundation—were honored by California Association for Physician Groups with the Elite Status of four stars, the highest rating possible for medical groups in California. MemorialCare Medical Foundation has consistently received this four star rating since the program began in 2007.

The Standards of Excellence program for the Association's 150 medical group members that partner with 60,000 doctors providing care to 18 million Californians is the nation's first known, voluntary large-scale medical group evaluation tool. It measures how physician organizations improve patient quality, safety, affordability, access, communications, care continuity, health information technology, public accountability, cultural sensitivities and responsiveness.

"The architects of health care reform have set the bar to far surpass all expectations for truly coordinated patient care," says Wells Shoemaker, MD, Medical Director, California Association of Physician Groups. "We know from the experiences of our member groups that it takes determined leadership, synchronized initiatives across hundreds of physicians, and leading-edge technology to honor the individual patient experience, improve the health of populations, and hone the efficiency our country's health care system desperately needs. Our Standards of Excellence documents precisely match those features. Organizations that excel in the survey's key domains join a truly Elite category of pioneering healthcare organizations."

"In a time when health care is under the microscope, we're extremely gratified to have our efforts on behalf of our patients and physicians recognized by this highly respected organization," says Mark Schafer, MD, Chief Medical Officer, MemorialCare Medical Foundation, which is part of MemorialCare Health System. "Our physicians and staff work tirelessly to ensure our patients continually receive the highest levels of patient care available—from advanced preventive measures, comprehensive screenings and state-of-the-art diagnostic procedures and technologies to expert treatment and management of medical conditions."

These are among the latest honors received by MemorialCare Medical Foundation, a nonprofit physician organization that partners with physician groups in Orange and Los Angeles counties to offer comprehensive medical care to patients and promote physicians and hospitals working together toward an integrated approach to health care delivery. The physician network, representing 300 primary care physicians and 2,300 contracted specialists with 1,300 employees, serves more than 160,000 patients. Among its many honors is consistently being selected by Integrated Healthcare Association as one of California's top-rated physician groups.

With more than 200 patient care sites throughout Southern California, MemorialCare Health System is a not-for profit, integrated delivery system that includes six top hospitals – Long Beach Memorial, Miller Children's Hospital Long Beach, Community Hospital Long Beach, Orange Coast Memorial in Fountain Valley, and Saddleback Memorial in Laguna Hills and San Clemente; a medical group - MemorialCare Medical Group; an Independent Practice Association (IPA) - Greater Newport Physicians; MemorialCare HealthExpress retail clinics; ambulatory surgery centers and numerous outpatient health centers throughout the Southland. For information, visit memorialcare.org.

SOURCE MemorialCare