Leading Medical Group HealthCare Parners Enhances Patient Care through Clinical Research

Los Angeles, CA - After winning kudos for leadership, excellence in medical group management and garnering the highest patient satisfaction scores on the statewide California Consumer Satisfaction Survey, what does a medical group do for an encore?

For HealthCare Partners Medical Group, repeatedly recognized for leadership in medical group management and high quality of care delivery by such industry groups as PacifiCare and the Pacific Business Group on Health, the answer is simple: further enhance patient care by seeking out clinical research opportunities. The medical group does this through its Clinical Research Center.

Pharmaceutical research studies began at HealthCare Partners in1982. The center now has a solid record of clinical trials experience in various therapeutic areas and partners with Altura, an organization that provides clinical research implementation services to healthcare and pharmaceutical-related firms. Says Pete Fronte, president of Altura, "HealthCare Partners is an attractive study site for a wide range of prospective and retrospective research projects."

The Clinical Research Center maintains various facilities throughout the Los Angeles area. In well-equipped, modern facilities, the Center's staff conducts drug and disease management research for its pharmaceutical, biotech and medical-device clients. HealthCare Partners conducts phase II-IV clinical trials, as well as outcome studies and database analysis with a team of investigators experienced in both academic research and clinical trials.

Like other leading clinical research programs, HealthCare Partners has a dedicated, multi-therapeutic, highly trained and experienced research team. Robert Margolis, CEO of HealthCare Partners, notes, "We also offer our sponsors these key differentiating advantages: an ethnically diverse patient base of 450,000 and the ability to integrate care management and disease management programs. We have electronic medical records and databases, which allow us to do feasibility studies prior to the beginning of a study and to recruit patients for studies quickly. Our goal is not just to conduct research, but to enhance care to our patients, who benefit from the newest and most improved medications and medical protocols."

Onsite research center facilities include dedicated administrative and clinical research offices, in-house IT staff and Internet access, secure medical records and drug storage, multiple examination rooms, equipment for processing specimens for transport to a central laboratory, and research facilities/equipment for specific studies. The centralized research center handles regulatory processing, adverse event reporting, patient recruitment, the qualification and training of investigators and clinical research coordinators, as well as quality assurance and all contractual and budgetary functions. Investigators are also able to access a full range of medical services and equipment at 35 medical offices throughout Los Angeles County, including urgent care centers, outpatient clinics, in-house pharmacies, laboratory processing centers and radiology departments (with CT scanners, ultrasound, X-ray and DEXA scanning).

Aya Dinning, director of Clinical Research, notes that "Our research investigators are vitally interested in conducting more studies in the following therapeutic areas: cardiovascular, endocrinology, gastrointestinal, anti-infectives, ophthalmology, pediatrics, internal medicine and family practice, rheumatology, musculoskeletal, pain management, immediate and urgent care conditions, allergy and asthma, pulmonology, dermatology, ENT, and podiatry. Additionally, our proven systems allow us to collect clean, comprehensive data while meeting applicable regulatory requirements and complying with guidelines such as Good Clinical Practices."

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