California Medical Association's mission is to promote the science and art of medicine, the care and well-being of patients, the protection of the public health, and the betterment of the medical profession; to promote similar interests in its component societies; and to unite with similar organizations in other states and territories of the United States to form the American Medical Association.

For more than a century, the California Medical Association has continued to ensure high quality care for all Californians through legislation, continuing medical education, and peer review. But the goals to which the founders subscribed in 1856 remain the same today: "to protect the public health and to promote the science and art of medicine."