Q: Why did Emergency Medical Associates (EMA) choose to partner with EmCare?
A: EMA’s Board of Directors and Executive Team had developed a strategic plan over the preceding year to help guide the company’s growth. The plan included several imperatives that we needed to achieve over a short period of time. As we were discussing how best to meet these goals, we recognized that the world of healthcare was changing. Consolidation among hospitals, providers and payors was now the norm. It was the right time for us to look for a partner to help us get to where we needed to be. Envision seemed to have already reached a lot of the same conclusions about the future of the industry because the company was already developing and even executing on solutions to achieve those goals, particularly regarding population health. It was the best fit for our practice because we shared the same vision.
Q: EMA and Scottsdale Emergency Associates (SEA) have joined forces to create a new division in EmCare, one that seeks to maintain many of the same benefits that physician-owned practices, or democratic practices, enjoy. How do you see this division fitting into EmCare’s current culture?
A: Our division was designed to maintain the environment we created at EMA and SEA so that we can continue to function similar to physician-owned practices. Our organization and culture led us to high levels of physician engagement, which in turn has been the key to our high-quality care and high levels of retention of quality clinicians and client hospitals. EmCare leadership is committed to facilitating and enhancing physician engagement within EmCare, and we believe the Partners Group can help advance this goal by bringing a new set of eyes and a different approach to this important company-wide initiative. For example, in the Partners Group, we will continue to operate under the oversight of a Practice Affairs Committee (PAC), which provides a mechanism for all physicians in the division to have a say in the major decisions that will affect the group. PAC members will be elected by the division’s physicians and will represent the demographics of the group, including its geographically diverse locations and varied specialties (emergency medicine, hospital medicine, urgent care, and others in the future). Among the many functions of the PAC is the responsibility for developing new and better ways for delivering care, including sharing best practices and researching new technologies; and finding ways to make our worksites run more efficiently, particularly through the use of advanced practice providers, scribes, technology and process improvement. Of course the PAC will regularly coordinate with EmCare national leadership and EmCare as a whole as we all seek to facilitate the exchange of ideas and best practices.
Q: You were recently named President of EmCare. Please explain your role and what you hope to accomplish.
A: EmCare has grown exponentially over the last few years. Due to this growth, the company’s senior leadership had been stretched thin. Now, the company’s operations are overseen by a four-person team led by Todd Zimmerman, the CEO of EmCare. Jason Standifird, CFO; David Marks, COO; and I report to Todd and make up the executive team of EmCare. The division of labor and Todd’s collaborative leadership style will enable us to better coordinate resources, share best practices and support our clinicians.
I hope to be a useful and effective member of a very talented senior leadership team. I bring the physicians’ perspective to the table, which, when married with the operational, financial and business acumen of the team, will lead to higher standards in quality, productivity, efficiency and satisfaction – both patient and provider. It’s an exciting time for the company!
