title: Palo Alto Medical Foundation: pleasing patients on the Peninsula.
abstract: The murderous Northern California medical market has become a graveyard for failing and failed medical groups and IPAs in the past couple of years. Yet there are success stories illustrating the opportunities to be found amid obstacles in the nation's most challenging markets. The 185-physician Palo Alto (CA) Medical Foundation looks like a survivor in the continuing tumult, based on its lock on patient satisfaction, forward-thinking leadership, and disciplined clinical and operational culture.
mesh_terms: D002140:California; D004465:Economic Competition; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007193:Independent Practice Associations / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D007857:Leadership; D008332:Management Quality Circles; D015279:Organizational Culture; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care