[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 5998]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 TRIBUTE ON THE RETIREMENT OF AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT 
                          RICHARD J. DAVIDSON

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 25, 2006

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Dick Davidson, 
President of the American Hospital Association, who has announced that 
he will retire on January 1, 2007.
  I have been privileged to know Dick Davidson for decades, since he 
headed the Maryland Hospital Association and I was a member of the 
Maryland House of Delegates. During his 22 years as the first president 
of MHA, Dick believed strongly in the shared obligation between state 
government and hospitals to ensure that communities' health needs are 
met, and he put that belief into practice. MHA was a proactive partner 
with the Maryland state government in creating innovative approaches to 
issues of health care costs and quality, most notably the Health 
Services Cost Review Commission, and the MHA Quality Indicator (QI) 
Project, the largest national and international effort to measure and 
compare indicators of hospital performance. More than 1,900 health care 
organizations in the United States and abroad now participate in the QI 
Project. I am pleased to note that the tradition of collaboration 
established by Davidson continues at MHA today.
  In 1991, Dick Davidson was named President of the American Hospital 
Association, which represents 4,800 hospitals and health systems 
throughout the nation. At AHA, he continued to foster the tenet that 
hospitals and the federal government could together create ways to 
better serve the health needs of their communities. He assembled what 
is often considered the finest team of policy professionals and 
advocates in Washington. Davidson's tenure will also be remembered for 
promoting diversity in health care leadership. In 1994, AHA founded the 
Institute for Diversity in Health Management to expand leadership 
opportunities for ethnically, culturally, and racially diverse 
individuals, and increase the number of these individuals entering and 
advancing in the field. Over the past decade, the Institute has awarded 
more than $110,000 in scholarships to undergraduate and graduate 
students, and placed candidates in residencies and fellowships at 
health care organizations across the country.
  Among health care providers, payers, analysts, and policymakers, 
there is strong consensus that Dick Davidson's leadership has 
contributed to the improvement of the quality of health care across 
America. For that, the health care community and, indeed, our nation 
are grateful.
  I also want to congratulate Dick's wife Janet, who will undoubtedly 
be able to spend much more time with him beginning in 2007. Janet was 
herself a fixture in the Maryland state house for many years, having 
worked for current Senate President Mike Miller and former Senate 
President Steny Hoyer, among other distinguished elected officials. I 
would ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to join me in 
wishing the entire Davidson family--including their three sons--Mike, 
Andy, and Rick--all the best as the Davidson era at the American 
Hospital Association draws to a close.

                          ____________________