NEW YORK CITY, MAY 8, 2006—James J. Mongan, M.D., a nationally known health policy expert with long-standing experience in health system management, has been named to the Commonwealth Fund Board of Directors.
Dr. Mongan is president and chief executive officer of Partners HealthCare in Boston, an integrated health system founded in 1994 by Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital. In addition to its two academic medical centers, the Partners system also includes community hospitals, specialty hospitals, community health centers, a physician network, home health and long-term care services, and other health-related entities. Partners is one of the nation's leading biomedical research organizations and a principal teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Mongan, a professor of health care policy and a professor of social medicine at Harvard Medical School, also serves as chairman of the Commonwealth Fund's Commission on a High Performance Health System, a position he will retain after he joins the Board.
"We are very fortunate to have Dr. Mongan join the Board," said Board Chair Samuel O. Thier, MD. "His intimate knowledge of health care delivery gives him a clear understanding of the challenges and opportunities we face as we seek to achieve a high performance health care system that delivers safe, high-quality care efficiently and effectively."
"Dr. Mongan not only brings a rich background as a clinician to the Board but also has an extensive understanding of policy issues from more than a decade's service in Washington," added Fund President Karen Davis. "This makes him a valued authority on such crucial issues as covering the growing number of Americans lacking health insurance and strengthening this country''s fast-fraying health care safety net."
From 1996 to 2002, Dr. Mongan served as president of Massachusetts General Hospital, the largest and oldest teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Before his tenure at MGH, he served for 15 years as executive director of the Truman Medical Center in Kansas City and as dean of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. Prior to that, he spent 11 years in Washington, DC. He served as a staff member of the Senate Committee on Finance for seven years, working on Medicare and Medicaid legislation, and later served in the Carter administration as deputy assistant secretary for health and then at the White House as associate director of the domestic policy staff.
Dr. Mongan is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He has served on the board of trustees of the American Hospital Association and the Kaiser Family Foundation, and was a member of both the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission established by Congress and the Institute of Medicine's Commission on the Consequences of Uninsurance.
A native of San Francisco, Dr. Mongan received his undergraduate education at the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University, and his medical degree from Stanford University Medical School. He completed his internship at the Kaiser Foundation Hospital in San Francisco and served for two years in the Public Health Service.
Dr. Mongan will join the Board in July.