Paul Kivela, MD, MBA, of Napa, California, has been selected as the new president-elect of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) as the group made several leadership changes at its annual meeting in Las Vegas.

Kivela earned his medical degree at the University of Illinois and served as a resident at Los Angeles County-Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. His business degree was earned at the University of Tennessee. A two-time board member of ACEP and former president of its California chapter, he currently works as managing partner of Napa Valley Emergency Medical Group and medical director of Medic Ambulance in Vallejo, California.

“The only thing that is sure is that the practice of emergency medicine will look different in the future," Kivela said. "To meet the challenges, ACEP needs a strong leader who understands business models, the practice challenges, the political environment and has the ability to advocate, consensus build and communicate the value of emergency medicine."  

He’ll serve a one-year term in the role before assuming the president position at ACEP’s 2017 annual meeting in Washington, D.C., from the new president, Rebecca Parker, MD.

Parker also earned her medical degree in Illinois at Northwestern University. She now works in the state as senior vice president of practice and payment integration for Envision Healthcare and an emergency physician for Vista Health in Waukegan, Illinois. Her priorities for her year in charge will include physician diversity and better payment from insurers for emergency services.

“As president I intend to do all I can to make sure that patients have access to emergency care when they need it," Parker said.  "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.”

ACEP also elected two new board members in Vegas: Kevin Klauer, DO, EJD, chief medical officer for TeamHealth's emergency medicine division and medical director for the TeamHealth Medical Call Center, in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Gillian Schmitz, MD, associate professor and associate program director in the department of emergency medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.