[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 72 (Tuesday, May 24, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E945]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  TO COMMEND INOVA ALEXANDRIA HOSPITAL ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 
                          ``ALEXANDRIA PLAN''

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES P. MORAN

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 24, 2011

  Mr. MORAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend Inova Alexandria 
Hospital on the 50th anniversary of the ``Alexandria Plan.'' The 
Alexandria Hospital plan resulted in the first 24-hour emergency room 
staffed by dedicated emergency physicians and served as the national 
model for emergency medicine.
  During the 1940s and 1950s many hospitals around the country began 
providing emergency room services, mostly staffed by medical residents 
and nurses who were usually backed up by doctors on call from their 
homes. By the early 1960s, Alexandria Hospital and its medical staff 
decided that the inadequacy of the care model in the emergency 
department needed to be addressed.
  In the late 1950s, Dr. James Mills, Jr., a family physician on the 
medical staff of Alexandria Hospital, had a demanding private practice 
as well as serving as an ``on call'' physician covering the emergency 
room, both of which required many hours of his time.
  In 1961, as a result of the foresight of Alexandria Hospital, Dr. 
Mills, together with three other physicians on the medical staff, gave 
up their private practices to become full-time emergency physicians in 
an arrangement that became known as the Alexandria Plan. The Alexandria 
Plan provided for full-time staffing of emergency rooms 24 hours a day, 
seven days a week. It was quickly adopted and became the standard of 
care used by hospitals around the country as they began to confront 
increasing numbers of patients needing such emergency care.
  In addition to staffing the emergency room full time, the physicians 
also became the moving force behind the development of a medical 
specialty that called for specific training in emergency medicine and 
eventually resulted in the creation of the American College of 
Emergency Physicians.
  Next month, on June 24, 2011, Inova Alexandria Hospital and the 
American College of Emergency Physicians will jointly celebrate the 
50th anniversary of the inception of the Alexandria Plan, recognizing 
the incredible significance that this plan has had for the delivery of 
quality care to patients throughout the country.
  On behalf of the 8th district of Virginia, I commend Inova Alexandria 
for the Hospital's commitment to quality patient care and medical 
excellence.

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