California Medical Association starts administrative management company for independent physicians

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The California Medical Association (CMA) is overseeing a new administrative management network for independent physician practices in one of the nation’s largest states.

MedWay is the management program that started in April by CMA Physician Services to alleviate the administrative burdens of physician-led practices and health centers. The organization’s goal is to manage human resources, payroll, benefits and financial tools for practices, allowing doctors and their support staff more time to treat patients.

David Ford
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“Independent practices are navigating unprecedented challenges that threaten their sustainability,” CMA Physician Services CEO David Ford said in a news release. “MedWay will further empower these practices with expert support that ensures they can focus on what matters most — delivering exceptional patient care.”

Areas of focus

MedWay’s announcement said the organization focuses on four key areas:

• Full Autonomy: Practices maintain complete control over their operations, including employees, business, and clinical decisions. MedWay offers support without the constraints of co-employment or third-party interference.
• Cost-effective solutions: MedWay has a $1,995 set-up fee and charges $89 per employee per month. On average, MedWay said that is 30% more affordable than comparable services, making key administrative tools and support accessible to practices of all sizes.
• Health care-specific expertise: MedWay tailors solutions to the unique operational and compliance needs of health care providers, ensuring customized support that drives success.
• Personalized, expert support: Every practice is supported by dedicated professionals who proactively address challenges, ensuring smooth operations and peace of mind.

Patients, not paperwork

MedWay grew out of the needs of physicians, Ford told Medical Economics. Approximately three years ago, CMA began an intensive review of member needs, he said.

Physicians were nearly unanimous in listing their chief concerns: “the quintessential small-business hassles of running a medical practice,” Ford said.

“A lot of physicians started talking to us about HR problems, staffing, payroll, benefits, insurance, that sort of back office small-business challenges of running a medical practice,” Ford said. CMA began considering the best way to help that, he added.

MedWay may be the first of its kind. Other medical societies and physician organizations have offerings that assist members with logistics of insurance, recruiting staff or other office functions, but the MedWay staff have not found a similar comprehensive program, Ford said.

The company also is competitive in pricing, Ford said. While he did not name specific businesses, Ford said medical practices can work with professional employer organizations that handle administrative functions. However, those companies have fixed costs that spur higher per-employee prices for smaller practices, he said.

MedWay functions with a computer platform that minimizes log-ins. It does not integrate patient medical records. The company can work with just about any medical specialty, and already has had inquiries about managing administrative functions for dental offices, Ford said.

Benefits of independence

California’s independent physicians often have good patient outcomes, are diverse, and make strong connections with the communities they serve, Ford said. In California and across the country, there is a shortage of physicians, and doctors don’t go to school for years to process employee timecards, he said.

“We want them in that exam room, treating their patients, doing what they are very, very highly trained to do,” Ford said. “And I think that was the thinking behind MedWay, the more of all of that other stuff we can take off their plates, the better. We’ll restore some of that joy of being a physician, they can spend more time working with their patients to heal disease, which is what they're trained to do.”

Room to grow

In summer 2025, MedWay completed its first quarter in business with about 60 employees under management. The organization aims for thoughtful, measured growth, Ford said.

“Partially that was wanting to be realistic about launching a new company, but partially that was, too, we're trying to be very thoughtful about how we grow, because we wouldn't want to bring on a whole bunch of practices right away and not be able to give them the level of service that we expect from ourselves, and we think that the physicians will expect from us,” Ford said.

Even so, other state medical societies have been eyeing “MedWay 1.0” as a model or potential administrative manager for physician practices, Ford said.

“What I would hope is to save a lot of those societies everything that I just put myself through and my colleagues put themselves through for the last three years, and say, let's partner up on this, let's not waste a lot of time rebuilding this over and over and over again, when we can just partner up, bring it to your state,” he said.