Physicians Practice and St. Mary Medical Center Partner to Improve Patient Care in Long Beach, CA

Baltimore, Maryland — January 08, 2009 — Physicians Practice and St. Mary Medical Center have joined forces to help provide area physicians and their staff more time to devote to patient care. This new partnership is a unique program designed to help doctors in the Long Beach-Torrance area better handle the cumbersome and time-consuming issues of managing a busy practice. Through this new alliance, St. Mary Medical Center will use Physicians Practice’s extensive resources to deliver essential practice management tools to help local physicians manage the business aspects of medicine more efficiently and effectively.

Physicians’ need for practice management information is an ever-increasing one. According to Pricewaterhouse Coopers, every hour a physician spends with a patient results in 36 minutes of paperwork. Additionally, the cost of running a medical practice has increased and now consumes as much as 62 percent of the revenue (2007 Medical Group Management Association Cost Survey), while reimbursement continues to decline from year to year (2006 and 2007 Physicians Practice Fee Schedule Surveys). Furthermore, according to the 2008 Future Physicians of America Survey, nearly 70 percent of medical students do not feel adequately prepared for managing or owning a practice in the future.

Under their new partnership, St. Mary Medical Center will sponsor the distribution of “Physicians Practice”®, America’s Leading Practice Management Journal, to approximately 3,000 local doctors from multiple specialties in the greater Long Beach-Torrance area. Physicians Practice will be mailed monthly, beginning this month, and will serve to help physicians and their office staff address the numerous challenges faced by today’s medical practices. The journal will also feature a section sponsored and written by St. Mary Medical Center highlighting the hospital’s latest clinical offerings as well as articles of interest to physicians in the region.

According to St. Mary Medical Center President/CEO, Christopher DiCicco, “St. Mary Medical Center has been a key provider of healthcare and health education in the Long Beach area for 85 years.  Physicians Practice will provide us with a valuable tool that will allow us to provide value-added resources to our community of physicians.  We look forward to sharing insights on industry changes and practice management best demonstrated practices to enhance the overall care delivery process for our physicians and patients.”

"It is great to be able to partner with St. Mary Medical Center to bring practice management information and resources directly to Long Beach-Torrance physicians,” says Marcy Holeton, Senior Vice President and General Manager of CMPMedica US. “Our expertise in practice management and technology will help St. Mary’s medical practices to spend less time on business and more time with patients.”

For more information on the benefits of partnering with Physicians Practice to improve patient care, visit www.PhysiciansPractice.com, and select For Hospitals.


About Physicians Practice
For more than 18 years, healthcare executives have turned to Physicians Practice to help them cultivate physician relationships. Physicians Practice journal maintains approximately 60 hospital partnerships and is distributed to more than 265,000 practicing physicians. We create award-winning content and multimedia services to help community-based doctors in the United States and Canada strengthen their practice operations, which ultimately improves patient care. Physicians Practice is owned by CMPMedica, a division of United Business Media. Visit www.PhysiciansPractice.com for additional information about our acclaimed healthcare business education solutions.

About St. Mary Medical Center
St. Mary Medical Center has served the healthcare needs of Long Beach and its surrounding communities since 1923.  Founded by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word of Houston, Texas, today’s hospital is a realization of their vision to provide the highest quality of patient care in an environment where community service is key to fulfilling the mission.  St. Mary’s campus includes four medical office buildings, a health education/enhancement center and a 389 bed not-for-profit hospital, all with private rooms. Located on 18 acres in the heart of Long Beach, just blocks from the beach and the financial center downtown, St. Mary is uniquely positioned to serve the diverse needs of a busy and rapidly expanding metropolitan area.

The medical center offers the full-continuum of primary and secondary acute care services, including a trauma center and a base station approved for paramedics as well as an Emergency Department approved for Pediatrics.  St. Mary has also met the rigorous standards for treatment times, clinical processes and quality outcomes to earn the distinction of STEMI Receiving Center designation for Cardiac treatment and Digital Catherization Lab services.  Patients also have the benefit of access to a renowned Cancer Center and advanced Neurological and Neurosurgical diagnosis and treatment complemented by comprehensive Rehabilitation services.

More than 600 dedicated physicians and 1,250 employees are committed to St. Mary Medical Center in an effort to provide high quality, responsive medical care guided by a culture that values excellence and compassionate service in caring for patients and their families.



Hospital program contact:
Steve Gottshall
Associate Publisher
847-242-9552
steven.gottshall@cmpmedica.com

Media contact for Physicians Practice:
Monique Griffin
Senior Marketing Manager
410-818-2715
monique.griffin@cmpmedica.com

Media contact for St. Mary Medical Center:
Daa’iyah Jordan
Director, Public Relations
(562) 491-4838
Daaiyah.Jordan@chw.edu