Q&A Dr. James Mongan, new chamber chairman
The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce last month appointed a new chairman, Dr. James Mongan, 62. Mongan, who is CEO of Partners HealthCare, the largest private employer in Massachusetts and the parent organization of Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, is the first chamber chairman from the life sciences and from the hospital industry. Partners also is a nonprofit organization, unlike most of the companies in the chamber. Mongan spoke with Boston Globe reporter Liz Kowalczyk.
Q: We don't usually think of hospitals as businesses like banks, law firms, and advertising agencies, so why did the chamber appoint as its chairman the head of a nonprofit Harvard teaching hospital group?
A: It's true that people across the country haven't thought of healthcare that way, but healthcare has become a big part of the economy and a big part of people's lives. In Boston, with its medical, educational, research, and biotech sectors, it's even more part of the economy. Employment in the life sciences is almost 10 percent of total employment here; 15 years ago it was 8 percent. I think the chamber asked me to serve as chairman because they're interested in more fully integrating healthcare, research, and education into the broader business and civic communities.
We are a business and I don't think anyone needs to make any apology about that. We have a big impact on the economy and a huge impact on people's health and lives.
Q: You run a nonprofit. Is this appointment a sign that Harvard's teaching hospitals really have become businesses above all else?
A: It's a false analogy to say, ''Oh, 20 years ago healthcare was a social service and, gosh, now it's a business." It's always been both.
In a way it's interesting. There's a little of the chicken and the egg. Twenty years ago almost every story about healthcare in the newspaper was in the metro section or on the front page. They were rarely in the business section. Now an awful lot are in the business section. Are you guys reflecting or leading?
Also, as a percent of the gross domestic product, healthcare has grown. Now it's about 14 percent of the GDP.If people in healthcare were not more focused on managing that 14 percent, people like you would be critical.
Q: What are your responsibilities as chamber chairman?
A: Chairing regular meetings of the chamber board; there are about five or six a year. Working with staff to provide advice as the year goes on. On some occasions, board officers are asked to do lobbying. The primary goal of chamber officers is to try to work with staff in achieving appropriate policy positions.
Q: What are the major policy issues in the life-sciences arena?
A: The continuing and dramatic decline in state Medicaid reimbursement to providers that's detrimental to the health of the provider community. Research funding is a major issue.
With funding from the National Institutes of Health declining, we need to have conversations with people in Washington. There was a spirit of enormous growth in funding. It was going up 11 to 12 percent a year. Given the federal budget realities, there's been an abrupt cutback to 2 to 3 percent growth a year.
Massachusetts has a unique leadership role being on the cutting edge of research and development. The concern is that the institutions that serve as the basis of that could become crippled one way or another and we could lose our edge in that regard.
Think about why biotech and pharmaceutical companies are locating here. It's because of the medical schools and teaching hospitals. Novartis doesn't move here just because Boston is a great place to live.
