Pacific Medical Administrative Group (PMAG) is an Independent Physicians Association (IPA).  PMAG was incorporated in 1988 and started from humble beginnings with 200 physicians and several thousand patients. PMAG currently includes more than 700 member physicians providing professional services for more than 86,000 PPO and HMO covered lives.  PMAG accepts physicians by invitation and has always been run by physicians.

The concept of PMAG began in the early 1980s in response to two key events in Hawaii’s health care industry:  Kaiser Permanente emerging as a major player in the industry and the new HMO formation of Queen’s Health Care System.

Feeling the intense competition in the health care market, the professional leaders of these three hospital systems—Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, Kuakini Health System, and St. Francis Health System—created their own HMO and named it Pacific Health Care (PHC).  To be successful, PHC needed a physician provider group of the highest quality.

Among the original members who met to discuss the formation of PHC were the Chiefs of Staff of each hospital: Clifford B.G. Chang, MD of St. Francis, Edward Yamada, MD of Kuakini Medical Center, and Gary M. Fujimoto, MD of Kapiolani Medical Center.  Each physician played a pivotal role in the formation of this dual partnership between IPA and the three hospitals.  This would later become a tri-partnership as HMSA would be included as a third partner of PHC.

The Chief of Staff of each hospital selected two physicians from their respective medical staff to develop a separate Independent Physician Association (IPA) at their individual institutions.  These nine physicians had the hardest task of all—contracting 200 other physicians to join their venture.  At a time when little was known about managed care, you can imagine the difficulty in convincing a physician to pay $500 to join an IPA!  These original nine physicians were instrumental in the formation of the organization that would eventually become PMAG.

In only a short amount of time it proved inefficient to run a business in triplicate.  Negotiations and discussions lead to the merger of the three separate IPAs into a single entity called Pacific Medical Administrative Group, or PMAG.  The original Board of Directors of PMAG included Clifford B.G. Chang, MD, Thomas Y. Ito, MD, Richard Mitsunaga, MD, Glenn M.L. Pang, MD, Shigeo Natori, MD, Thomas L. Lau, MD, Gary M. Fujimoto, MD, and Edward Morgan, MD.

In 1999, PHC became the largest health center in HMSA’s managed care plan, Health Plan Hawaii.  PMAG remained the exclusive physician group providing medical care for the more than 40,000 patients.

Also in 1999, PMAG formed Partners for Quality Health (PQH), a Management Services Organization (MSO) in a joint venture with HMSA.  The primary role of PQH is to provide physicians with timely and accurate data about their practice.  This assists them in providing patients with the best quality of care in a cost effective manner.

PMAG steadfastly continues its philosophy to serve its member physicians and improve the quality and efficiency of care delivered to the people of Hawaii.