[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 114 (Wednesday, September 3, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              ACR GOLD MEDALIST JAMES M. MOOREFIELD, M.D.

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, September 3, 1997

  Mr. STARK. Mr. Speaker, the issue of providing universal access to 
health care for our citizens has been a major goal of every Member of 
Congress. Over the past 32 years we as a body have enacted many changes 
to achieve this goal for the Nation. In those efforts, many in the 
private sector have worked with us to develop responsible health 
legislation.
  Dr. James M. Moorefield, a radiologist from California is a private 
sector physician leader who came to us in Congress to offer a solution 
to physician payment under Medicare. As a result the physician RBRVS 
was adopted and Dr. Moorefield, as chairman of the board of chancellors 
of the American College of Radiology, worked tirelessly with us to 
achieve that milestone.
  In recognition for that leadership and his many other contributions 
to radiology, medicine, and America's health care system, the American 
College of Radiology will award him the ACR Gold Medal in Atlanta, GA, 
at its annual meeting September 6-10, 1997.
  The ACR, in announcing his award of the prestigious gold medal, 
published the following comments by Christopher M. Rose, M.D. and 
Frederick R. Margolin, M.D. in the ACR Bulletin:


       Jim Moorefield is a tireless leader in the field of 
     radiology. Few people have made a commitment to our specialty 
     that has been as complete or as longstanding as his. The 
     tracks of his dedication to radiology and medicine reach from 
     the halls of his hospital to the halls of Congress. He has 
     served us on a local, state, and national level with 
     distinction deserving our highest honor.
       After attending Georgetown University, Dr. Moorefield 
     received his medical training in his native New York at the 
     State University of New York. He went on to serve as a 
     medical officer in the U.S. Navy before his radiology 
     residency at the University of California, San Francisco. In 
     1969 he entered private practice in Sacramento.
       Dr. Moorefield's local and state involvement provided him 
     his first opportunities to distinguish himself in the 
     politics of medicine. As a delegate to the state medical 
     society, he became an outspoken opponent of self-referral, 
     winning him much respect, if not many friends, among the 
     self-referrers.
       His College activities began with committee and commission 
     service, and he served as a councilor from California. After 
     the College successfully defeated the RAPs legislation in 
     1987, Dr. Moorefield was picked to lead the arduous task of 
     pulling members and staff together to develop a radiology 
     relative value that could be used by Medicare. The system he 
     created was copied and is still used by the AMA to set 
     relative values recommended to HCFA for Medicare. He worked 
     to convince Congress and HCFA to accept it, and thus helped 
     preserve the right of the radiology profession to establish 
     its own guidelines and definitions.
       Dr. Moorefield went on to serve as vice-chairman and 
     chairman of the ACR Board of Chancellors and as ACR 
     president. It is particularly noteworthy that during the past 
     25 years, he has been in the full-time private practice of 
     radiology. During most of his years of service to the 
     College, he also served as president of his group. The time 
     that he has unselfishly devoted to advance our interests as 
     radiologists has been extracted at some measure of personal 
     cost.
       Dr. Moorefield is an articulate and effective 
     representative of our specialty. He is a wonderful person 
     with a fine sense of humor, a great collegiality, and fine 
     perceptive power of people, ideas, and future trends. He is 
     blessed with enormous stamina and a will designed to test 
     that strength. He has used all his talents in the pursuit of 
     the betterment of his colleagues and the College. The ACR and 
     the profession of radiology are stronger for his efforts.

  Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in extending our 
congratulations to Dr. Moorefield for this honor and thank him for the 
leadership and direction he provided the Congress as we deliberated our 
Nation's health care issues.

                          ____________________