[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 99 (Tuesday, July 26, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 26, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                 THE 65TH ANNIVERSARY OF FALLON CLINIC

 Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, today I want to pay tribute to the 
Fallon Clinic of my home State of Massachusetts which celebrates its 
65th anniversary this year.
  The Fallon Clinic was founded as a small group practice by Dr. 
Michael Fallon in 1929. Since its inception, it has been a pioneer in 
the health care field, striving to meet the needs of its community 
through innovative practices. When the Fallon Clinic first opened, 
group practices were rare. Nevertheless, its founders understood that 
this efficient coordination of resources allowed them to provide 
patients with greater choice while lowering costs. In 1951, Fallon 
expanded into a multispecialty group practice, providing patients with 
the benefit of having a specialist available to deal with each of their 
ailments. As time passed, word of Fallon's excellent service spread and 
patients, in increasing numbers, turned to the Fallon Clinic for their 
health care needs. With the original office bursting at the seams, the 
clinic was forced to open a new facility in 1966 and subsequently 
expanded to 29 sites.
  Never content to rest on its laurels, the Fallon Clinic has continued 
to innovate and to improve the quality of its services. In 1977, it 
established a health maintenance organization or HMO called the Fallon 
Community Health Plan. Today, Fallon is one of the most successful 
HMO's in the country. It has been praised as a ``model HMO'' and named 
as one of the 10 best HMO's in the Nation. A large part of the HMO's 
success is the fact that it is the most efficient and lowest cost HMO 
in the area. But cost is only half the story. Fallon continues to grow 
because of the quality of its work and the care with which it treats 
its patients.
  At a time when Americans are finding it increasingly difficult to 
afford high-quality health care, Fallon stands out as a bright example 
of what can be accomplished by bold thinking. On its 65th anniversary, 
I praise Fallon for its innovative heritage and exhort it to continue 
moving forward at this critical stage of health care reform in 
America.

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