The ACCMA offers members a wide range of benefit designed to help doctors, so that doctors can focus on what doctors do best: helping patients.

Individual Assistance and Advocacy  
The ACCMA aggressively assists members with challenges to their ability to practice medicine, such as: payment disputes and unfair treatment by health plans, government agencies, and others; unfair treatment by hospitals; confusing regulations and overzealous regulators; and numerous other issues.  Please do not hesitate to contact the ACCMA with any questions you have.

Practice Management Services 
The ACCMA is a tremendous resource for physicians and their staffs on all things practice management. The ACCMA can provide a wide range of tools - from individual assistance to in-depth articles and seminars - on a wide range of topics, including billing and coding issues, disputes with payors, guidance on managed care and contracting issues, regulatory compliance issues and investigations, information on salaries and benefits for medical office staff, and legal obligations that health plans must meet.

Professional Development 
The ACCMA is committed to developing the capacity of physicians to become leaders in their practices, their profession and the community. Members have a number of opportunities to develop leadership skills through the ACCMA, including attending seminars, serving on a committee, or helping out in the community.

Legislative Advocacy  
As the voice of doctors in the East Bay, one of the most important things the ACCMA does is to advocate on behalf of our physician members. From giving testimony at meetings of the Board of Supervisors, to spearheading coalitions of local healthcare organizations, to lobbying members of Congress and the State Legislature, the ACCMA works hard to ensure that public policy impacting the profession of medicine helps rather than hurts doctors and patients. 

• We promote fair business practices by health plans and health systems; increased funding of public health care programs; expanded access to care; medical staff autonomy over medical issues; the integrity of peer review processes; improved public safety and public health.
• We oppose inappropriate expansion of the scope of practice of allied health practitioners; attempts to undermine tort reforms (MICRA) that keep malpractice insurance costs affordable; unfair regulations and mandates on the medical profession.
• We engage candidates and legislators who share the membership's views on issues affecting health care delivery through political action committees and ongoing interaction and support.

Legal and Regulatory Advocacy
ACCMA and CMA work to uphold physicians' and patients' rights, preserve legislative reforms and advocate for appropriate interpretation of laws. We monitor regulatory agencies to ensure that they are fulfilling their intended purpose, whether it be to distribute health care benefits or properly regulate the health care industry, and challenge any unfair policies or actions against physicians.

Educational Seminars  
The ACCMA hosts many seminars each year designed to bring physician members and their staffs up-to-date information on issues affecting the practice of medicine. ACCMA members are able to attend these seminars at no or extremely reduced rates. Recent seminars topics include effective billing and coding, business essentials for physicians, managed care contract analysis, personnel management, and many more. 

Timely News & Information  
The ACCMA regularly updates physician members with information that impact their practices and their profession. Members can look forward to receiving a monthly magazine (ACCMA Bulletin) and monthly newsletter (ACCMA Business), as well as periodic Member Alerts by fax and email. Members also receive up to two complimentary copies of the Annual Membership Directory and Practice Resource Guide.

Online Resources  
We are very pleased that you have found the ACCMA on the web. Our new online Resource Library enables members to access ACCMA's incredible practice resources at the tip of their fingers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Discounts on Insurance Services
ACCMA members are entitled to a host of discounts from both local and national vendors that provide a wide range of insurance products and services.

Mediation of Disputes 
ACCMA committees diffuse disputes members sometimes have with patients, attorneys or other physicians.  These peer review processes allow members to receive feedback from other physicians in the community as to whether they have acted within the standards of practice and the standards of care.

Patient Referrals
The ACCMA maintains a referral service for patients to seek medical services from members.

Bay Area Preferred Physicians (BAPP)
Bay Area Preferred Physicians (BAPP) is an organization formed by the ACCMA and other Bay Area county medical associations contract with preferred provider organizations (PPOs) under reasonable terms on behalf of members.  BAPP eliminates duplicative credentialing processes with multiple health plans, and provides free managed care contract analyses and purchasing services for medical and office supplies.

Medical Insurance Exchange of California (MIEC)
MIEC is the first doctor-owned professional liability insurance carrier in California, formed by the ACCMA and other sponsoring medical societies in 1975 when commercial insurance companies abandoned the professional liability market.  Like the ACCMA, MIEC is committed to serving the medical profession through vigorous defense in malpractice litigation, loss-prevention activities, and physician governance.  Most importantly, as a doctor-owned company the physician-insureds are only beneficiaries of good underwriting and claims experience.