SCPMG
Celebrates Its "First 50 Years" |
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By
Chad Fifer
Although
the Southern California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG) was officially
"born" on January 1, 1953, it did not spring to life in
a single day. The guiding principles of the organization took decades
to develop--decades of stops and starts, of successes and failures.
Above all, it took the persistence, extraordinary vision, and dreams
of two men: Sidney Garfield, MD, and Raymond Kay, MD.
Drs
Garfield and Kay were just beginning their medical careers when they
met in the early 1930s at Los Angeles County General Hospital (now
the Los Angeles County/USC Medical Center). The origins of SCPMG may
well have been right then and there. As Dr Kay would later say, "Many
fundamental concepts of the Southern California Permanente Medical
Group stem from the early experience and reactions some of us had
while young physicians in training at the Los Angeles County General
Hospital." Dr Garfield pioneered the health care delivery system
we now know as Kaiser Permanente, while Dr Kay became the driving
force behind the formation of SCPMG. (Excerpted from "SCPMG .
. . The First 50 Years," a historical account of the Medical
Group by Teri Allen, to be printed later this year.)
It was
1949 when Ray Kay, MD, left his job at Los Angeles County General
Hospital, moved to Fontana, and became the Medical Director of the
Kaiser Permanente Southern California Region. A mere four years later,
the small group of Fontana physicians employed by Sidney R Garfield,
MD, and Associates became the partnership of physicians known as SCPMG.
On January 1, 1953, 13 physicians signed the first SCPMG Partnership
Agreement, creating an organization of partners who co-owned and governed
the medical group. During the early years, Dr Kay said, "We dreamed
of a form of practice that we hoped would meet the needs of both patients
and physicians."1
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Drs
Sidney Garfield and Ray Kay prepare for a game of ping pong
circa 1950.
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SCPMG
has grown into an organization of approximately 3700 partner and associate
physicians working at 12 medical centers and more than 100 medical
offices in the KP Southern California Region. The organization and
its leadership have proved remarkably resilient during the last 50
years by continuing to provide high-quality, convenient, and affordable
health care in spite of various internal and external challenges.
In the
1950s, SCPMG's leaders took on the challenge of launching a new, innovative
organization in a less-than-favorable health care environment. They
faced bashing from the "established" medical community as
well as pressure from unions and the KP organization itself. In 1956,
SCPMG became the first medical group within KP to sign a medical service
agreement, establishing a contractual partnership with the Kaiser
Foundation Health Plan and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals. This agreement
cemented a healthy relationship between the medical group and the
Health Plan that both still enjoy.
The
1960s saw SCPMG dealing with the pressures of growth and expansion,
as KP's Panorama City and Bellflower medical centers opened and construction
began on KP West Los Angeles. In the 1970s, this expansion continued--SCPMG
began serving members in San Diego and Orange County while coping
with the emergence of government regulation and managed care competition.
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Dr
William Kandel examines a patient at the Glendale Medical Office
Building circa 1960. KP left this location for a larger one
in Burbank in 1961.
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Increased
competition from these managed care companies, coupled with escalating
health care costs, threatened the stability of SCPMG in the '80s and
'90s, but the organization weathered the storm. By improving its access,
service, and efficiency, SCPMG separated itself from the pack and
outlasted many of its rivals, to become the successful medical group
that KP members continue to rely on today.
"Over
the last 50 years, SCPMG has proven to be a very durable organization
of physicians; and we are an important part of the infrastructure
of Southern California health care," said Oliver Goldsmith, MD,
SCPMG Medical Director. "I'd be hard pressed to find a group
of physicians more singularly committed to their program and the patients
they serve."
This
year marks SCPMG's 50th Anniversary--a time to celebrate the history
of its partnership, longevity of its mission, dedication to its patients,
and the strength of group practice. Several activities are taking
place throughout the rest of the year to commemorate the anniversary
and to thank physicians, providers, and employees for their commitment
to medical excellence. "SCPMG ... The First 50 Years," a
video chronicling the challenges, triumphs, and people who left a
lasting imprint on the medical group, will be available later this
year. Many local medical center and regional events are also being
held this fall to mark the occasion.
SCPMG "The First
50 Years" Celebration
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A
patient is checked out of the Long Beach Medical Office Building,
which served members until the early '60s.
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This
regionwide anniversary celebration for SCPMG Partner and Associate
Physicians as well as retired partner physicians will feature guest
speaker Jerome Groopman, MD. Dr Groopman is an esteemed physician
and writer on doctor-patient relationships for The New Yorker
and author of The Measure of Our Days, which inspired the critically
acclaimed TV series Gideon's Crossing. The program, followed
by a reception, will have been held on Sunday, October 26, 2003, at
the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.
50th Anniversary Web
Site
The
50th anniversary is also being commemorated within the pages of the
SCPMG Physician Intranet portal (http://scpmgphysician.kp.org). This
site features:
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historical accounts of the people and places that shaped the history
of SCPMG;
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anniversary messages from Oliver Goldsmith, MD, SCPMG Medical Director,
and Jeffrey Weisz, MD, SCPMG Medical Director-elect;
- an
SCPMG Anniversary Events Calendar which includes KP Southern California
regional and local celebrations; and
- a
"Tell Your SCPMG Story" section which enables physicians
and staff members to submit stories of their personal experiences
in SCPMG, for example, why they joined the medical group, important
milestones, proudest moments, working wisdom gained, unforgettable
faces, and more.
"As
we move forward into our next 50 years, the medical group will continue
to operate on its core principles: Permanente Medicine and a sense
of compassion and of caring for our patients," said Dr Weisz.
"We are responsible for putting the KP Promise into action
every day in our medical facilities and administrative offices. I
would like to thank the SCPMG people of yesteryear and those of today
for working diligently to carry out our tradition of quality medical
care."
Reference
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Kay, RM. Historical review of the Southern California Permanente
Medical Group. Los Angeles (CA): Southern California Permanente
Group, 1979. p 3.
