The California Medical Association (CMA) Model Medical Staff Bylaws provide hospital medical staffs with a professional and legal structure that best supports effective medical staff operations. This year’s bylaws include significant updates reflecting new laws, court precedents and best practices.

The model bylaws are fully annotated to provide background information on critical provisions, including explanation of relevant state and federal laws, hospital accreditation standards, and other explanatory information.

In 2024, the CMA Board of Trustees approved revisions to align our medical staff bylaws with industry best practices and introduced important new safeguards for peer review and medical staff independence. These updates ensure our peer review section remains current, enhancing the quality of patient care through effective and transparent processes.

Key revisions include:

• Implementing more effective peer review processes
• Updating the bylaws to evaluate and address new technologies and methodologies
• Incorporating lessons from court precedents and physicians’ experiences
• Enhancing fairness and objectivity
• Increasing accountability and transparency
• Reflecting the collective insights of medical staff, administrators, and other stakeholders
• Streamlining processes for more timely assessments and resolutions
• Addressing emerging risks proactively

These revisions benefit all physicians, reflecting current trends in medical staff practices.

This publication is free to CMA Organized Medical Staff Section members. If you represent an OMSS-member medical staff and would like to order your free copy, contact CMA at (800) 786-4262 or medstaffhelp@cmadocs.org. The model bylaws are also available to purchase in the CMA store.