Dr. Rebecca Parker Assumes Presidency of ACEP
Fair Insurance Coverage and Diversity are Priorities
LAS VEGAS, Oct. 16, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) today announced that Rebecca Parker, MD, FACEP, from Park Ridge, Ill., assumed the presidency during the organization's annual meeting in Las Vegas. She was elected in 2015 by ACEP's Council to serve a 1-year term.
Dr. Parker is senior vice president of practice and payment integration for Envision Healthcare and an emergency physician for Vista Health in Waukegan, Ill. In addition, she is president of Team Parker LLC, a consulting group.
"As president I intend to do all I can to make sure that patients have access to emergency care when they need it," said Dr. Parker. "Insurance companies are misleading people by offering so-called 'affordable' premiums, only to find out their policies cover very little. They are trying to ban balance billing without having to pay fairly for EMTALA related care. Payments for emergency visits must be based on a reasonable percentile of charges, rather than arbitrary rates that don't even cover costs of care. We must fight the insurance industry for fair payment and for fair coverage for our patients."
Dr. Parker also has made the issue of diversity and inclusion as a cornerstone of her plans for her one-year tenure as President.
"The specialty of emergency medicine can be made stronger by increasing our diversity and inclusion by generation, gender, race, religion and sexual orientation," she said. "To accomplish this, I have created a Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion to strengthen emergency medicine and position it to meet the needs of our ever-changing society. We need to support our diverse physicians and our diverse patients to deliver the best care while take care of each other."
Dr. Parker has been active with ACEP on both the state and national levels. She has been a member of both the Illinois Chapter and the Texas Chapter Board of Directors and chaired both Chapters' education committees. She has served in a variety of leadership positions on the Illinois ACEP Board, including president-elect, when she was elected to the national ACEP Board of Directors for the first time in 2009.
For national ACEP, Dr. Parker has served as chair of the Coding and Nomenclature Advisory Committee, chair of the Young Physicians Section, board liaison to the Clinical Emergency Medicine Data Registry (CEDR) subcommittee, and chair-elect of the ACEP Foundation. Prior to becoming President-elect, Dr. Parker served as chair of ACEP's Board of Directors.
Dr. Parker has received many awards for her leadership roles, including the AMA's Foundation Leadership Award and the AMA's Women's Physician Congress Mentor Award. She also received the Bill B. Smiley Meritorious Service Award, the Illinois Chapter of ACEP's highest honor.
Dr. Parker was elected to ACEP's Board of Directors in 2009. She earned her medical degree at Northwestern University Medical School and completed her internship and residency in emergency medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso, Texas. She is a diplomate of the American Board of Emergency Medicine.
ACEP is the national medical specialty society representing emergency medicine. ACEP is committed to advancing emergency care through continuing education, research and public education. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, ACEP has 53 chapters representing each state, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. A Government Services Chapter represents emergency physicians employed by military branches and other government agencies.
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SOURCE American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP)
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