medical foundation type nonprofit industry healthcare founded 1930 founder dr. russel van arsdale lee headquarters palo alto california usa website pamf.org the palo alto medical foundation for health care research and education pamf is a not for profit health care organization with medical offices in more than 15 cities in the bay area . it has more than 900 physicians and had over 2 million patient visits in 2008 . 1 it is rated as one of california s top medical groups . 2 contents 1 history 2 education and research 3 structure 4 awards 5 references 6 external links history edit the history of the group dates back to 1930 when dr. russel van arsdale lee founded the palo alto medical clinic pamc . 3 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 . 4 in 1946 before health plans were standard business pamc agreed to provide medical care to nearby stanford university students in exchange for a flat fee . 5 in 1950 it became one of the first facilities in the nation to offer radiation therapy for cancer patients in an outpatient setting . 6 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 a not for profit organization with hospitals and medical groups in northern california . 7 in 1999 it was a very early adopter of an electronic health record system . 8 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 . 9 education and research edit 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 in four departments health services clinical research health policy research and cardiovascular physiology and biophysics . 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 . 10 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 . 8 structure edit pamf is a multi specialty group practice comprising physicians from all of the usual specialties . it is part of the sutter health peninsula coastal region 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 three geographical divisions santa cruz palo alto and camino . awards edit 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 . 11 in 2009 its chief medical information officer dr. paul tang was listed on modern healthcare s list of 100 most powerful people in healthcare . 12 references edit palo alto medical foundation at a glance 2011 statistics . palo alto medical foundation . may 2012 . retrieved 21 november 2012 . integrated healthcare association 2011 . top medical groups where you live . california office of the patient advocate . retrieved 21 november 2012 . palo alto medical foundation 2005 . the clinic is born . palo alto medical clinic the first 75 years . retrieved 21 november 2012 . palo alto medical foundation 2005 . the practice s first days . palo alto medical clinic the first 75 years . retrieved 21 november 2012 . palo alto medical foundation 2005 . a brief history of group practice . palo alto medical clinic the first 75 years . retrieved 21 november 2012 . palo alto medical foundation 2005 . timeline 1930 2005 . palo alto medical clinic the first 75 years . retrieved 21 november 2012 . palo alto medical foundation 2005 . a novel type of health care corporation . palo alto medical clinic the first 75 years . retrieved 21 november 2012 . a b solovitch sara 21 january 2008 . pamf hopes its online info system bucks trend . san francisco business times . retrieved 21 november 2012 . about palo alto medical foundation . palo alto medical foundation . retrieved 21 november 2012 . rauber chris 23 november 2009 . pamf s research institute wins 2m in federal stimulus grants . san francisco business times . retrieved 21 november 2012 . rauber chris 21 september 2009 . iha names top california medical groups on p4p . san francisco business times . retrieved 21 november 2012 . 100 most powerful people in healthcare . modern healthcare . 2009 . retrieved 21 november 2012 . external links edit pamf web site sutter health web site v t e palo alto california education primary and secondary schools palo alto unified school district gunn high school palo alto high school los altos school district mountain view los altos union high school district castilleja school international school of the peninsula kehillah jewish high school colleges and universities stanford university other landmarks stanford research park stanford shopping center healthcare stanford university medical center stanford hospital and clinics lucile packard children s hospital va palo alto hospital palo alto medical foundation this list is incomplete . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title palo alto medical foundation & oldid 684178756 categories clinicspalo alto californiamedical and health foundationshealthcare in the san francisco bay area navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 5 october 2015 at 02 11 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view