[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 66 (Friday, May 13, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E893]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             REMARKS HONORING THE LIFE OF DR. JAMES MONGAN

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                          HON. HENRY A. WAXMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 13, 2011

  Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, last week the health world lost one of its 
most respected, admired, and accomplished champions with the death on 
May 3 of Dr. James Mongan.
  Jim's last professional position was as president of Partners Health 
Care in Boston, following his service as president of the Massachusetts 
General Hospital, a position he assumed in 1996. His tenure there was 
heralded for remarkable achievements and progress.
  But for those of us who benefitted from his advice and experience in 
Washington, this was only the latest in a series of positions in which 
Jim worked tirelessly to increase access to health care services, to 
ensure that all Americans have health insurance, and to innovate and 
improve the quality and effectiveness of our health care delivery 
system.
  In the early days of his career in Washington, Jim was the first 
doctor to serve as professional staff to the Senate Finance Committee. 
He went on to work at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare 
with Secretary Joe Califano, and then in the Carter White House, where 
he headed efforts to enact a national health insurance plan in his role 
as Associate Director for Health on the domestic policy staff.
  After leaving Washington, Jim became the chief executive officer of 
the Truman Medical Center, a public safety net institution in Kansas 
City, Missouri, and Dean of the University of Missouri-Kansas City 
medical school. His work as a leader in academic medicine, in delivery 
system reform, and in bringing services to the uninsured and low-
income, was widely known and respected.
  During all his many years away from Washington, Jim's keen interest 
in public policy and the goal of expanded heath care coverage never 
flagged. He was a frequent and insightful witness before many 
Committees in Congress. His service as a Member on many advisory boards 
was highly sought, including service on the Prospective Payment 
Advisory Commission (a predecessor to MedPAC), on the board of the 
American Hospital Association, on the board of the Kaiser Family 
Foundation, and as a member of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and 
the Uninsured from its inception in 1991. He also served as a member of 
the board of the Commonwealth Foundation and the Chair of the 
Commonwealth Commission on High Performance Health Systems.
  His leadership and participation in all of these areas was a 
reflection of the value that was placed on his experience, his 
knowledge, and his sage advice. He could be depended on to cut through 
to the heart of the problem, and to offer pithy, practical and wise 
counsel.
  Jim was an instrumental partner in achievement of the health care 
reform system in Massachusetts, an achievement of which he was proud 
for its impact on his own State, and which helped serve as the impetus 
for the long-sought achievement of health care reform for all American.
  In 2009, he co-authored Chaos and Organization in Health Care, a book 
that was heralded as ``the single most informative and absorbing 
examination of what is wrong with the U.S. health care system, and what 
to do about it.'' It was an accurate reflection of the interests and 
work that dominated his entire career.
  Jim was a wise and kind person. He served as friend, mentor and 
advisor for more people in Washington and the health care world than we 
can count. By all of us, he will be missed.

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