Dr. Rebecca Parker has been appointed the new president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, effective immediately for a one-year term. She acted as president-elect the last 12 months.
Parker succeeds Dr. Jay Kaplan, who steps down after completing his one-year term at the medical society that represents about 34,000 physicians. He will now serve on the ACEP board for one year as immediate past president.
The ACEP also announced that Dr. Paul Kivela succeeds Parker as president-elect. He has been involved with the ACEP for more than 20 years, serving as president for the California chapter and chair of the State Legislation and Regulatory Committee.
As president, Parker expects to advocate for fair insurance coverage and reimbursement, an issue the ACEP has publicly championed. The organization has claimed a provision of the Affordable Care Act allows insurers to underpay for out-of-network emergency medical services. The ACEP sued the HHS in May over the issue.
Parker will also focus on increasing diversity in the field of emergency medicine. She has created a task force on diversity and inclusion to address the problem. “We need to support our diverse physicians and our diverse patients to deliver the best care,” she said in a news release.
Parker has held several leadership roles at the ACEP. She has served on the ACEP board for the Illinois and Texas chapters as well as the national board. She has also been board liaison of the Clinical Emergency Medicine Data Registry subcommittee and chair-elect of the ACEP Foundation.
She is also currently VP of practice and payment integration for Envision Healthcare, a physician staffing company based in Oak Brook, Ill.; an emergency physician at Vista Health, a two-hospital system based in Waukegan, Ill.; and president of Team Parker, a consulting group.
