The California Medical Association members can access 5,000 pages of information in the organization's health law library.
[1] The CMA and its leaders: On 12 March 1856, the Medical Society of the state of California held its first meeting at Pioneer Hall on "J" Street in what is now Old Town Sacramento.
Following the 1850 Sacramento cholera outbreak, the surviving physicians became close colleagues and friends, and they began to establish county medical societies.
Dr. Cooper, an eye surgeon who had previously co-founded the Illinois Medical Society, would build Stanford University School of Medicine.
In that year it was recommended that, because the annual transactions were "an extravagant and unnecessary way of perpetuating the proceedings of the society, the more rational one of publishing a monthly journal" be adopted.
The Western Journal has been the official publication of the CMA, six research and specialty societies, and the state medical associations of Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming for more than 20 years.
They dedicated their organization to "promote the science and art of medicine, protection of public health, and the betterment of the medical profession."
During the 20th century and beyond, the CMA has fought against tobacco use and smoking and insisted early on—in the face of criticism and fear of the newly found disease—that HIV and AIDS patients deserve needed health care.
In 1975, the CMA preserved access to care for many when it forged ahead on a plan to keep medical malpractice rates affordable.
Hearing the outcry of CMA physicians who had faced rate increases up to 400 percent, threatening practice viability, Governor Jerry Brown called together a special session of the legislature to discuss the malpractice cost crisis.
At the insistence of CMA physicians, MICRA kept patients whole and ensured compensation for their injuries while setting a cap on non-economic damages, going a long way in keeping malpractice insurance premiums affordable.
CMA continued the fight to protect MICRA against a ballot measure funded by trial lawyers, eventually contributing to the loss of Proposition 46 in the November 2014 general election.
In 2000, in a historic action, the CMA filed a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) lawsuit against for-profit HMOs in California, alleging that they were using fraud and other illegal activities to interfere in the physician-patient relationship.
Eventually, more than 800,000 physicians and 19 state and county medical association's joined the CMA as plaintiffs, becoming the largest class action health care lawsuit in U.S. history.
CMA, in conjunction with the California Dental Association, has announced it intends to run a sugary drink tax on the 2020 ballot.
[8] In 2021 Democratic Assemblyman Jim Wood introduced AB 890 to allow nurse practitioners in California to practice without physician oversight.
The CMA, while supporting the interests of California's physicians, realized that it was important to help along future physicians during their educational years, and so remained as a source of resources for medical students until 1995, when Dr. Rolland C. Lowe, M.D., CMAF Board Chair, recommended that the Foundation expand its role to encompass community health.
Overall, the mission of this project is to facilitate public education campaigns, advertisements, and media coverage that focus on increasing consumer awareness about pharmacies selling tobacco.
[15][18][19] The organization produces continuing medical education/continuing education (CME/CE) audio programs for physicians and health care professionals who subscribe.
These are typically audio tapes of meetings (such as seminars, short courses at universities, conferences and symposia) at which experts present new research.