KK: I think it’s wonderful. Most should recognize that this is a serious and important issue. I think this is the right time, the right president, the right organization, and the right charge.

RP: Thanks, Kevin.

Dr. Parker speaking at the American Association of Women Emergency Physicians meeting at ACEP15

KK: What are your views on group democracy, particularly knowing that your career path has been to not work with a democratic group?

RP: That’s actually a false statement. I don’t know if you know that or not. I will tell you my story. I think that the term “democratic group” is a misnomer. Democracy is where people are voting on every single issue, and that is very hard to do in business. What I think we actually have are partnerships, like our legal colleagues have. You have people come up the chain to become partner. There are senior partners. There is a managing partner. That’s the only way you can function in terms of governance and in terms of running a business. In the end when you look at democratic groups, what we really have are partnership groups. When you look at our groups, we have small, medium, and large groups. Then we have our multispecialty groups. They are multispecialty by design and not just hospital-based but outside of the hospital as well.

I actually have experience with a democratic group. I’ve really been interested in group formation since I was a resident. My first project on the EM practice committee was as a co-author of a paper on how to start a democratic group. I was two or three years out of residency, so I was a junior person on that paper. I learned quite a bit and contributed quite a bit as well. I had the opportunity to start a democratic group about 10 years ago when two hospitals here in the Chicago area were merging together. We wanted to start a new democratic group, we invited all of the physicians to join, and three physicians took up that option. I went through the whole process of taking out a loan and putting up my personal credit. My home was on the line of credit. What I would say about that experience is when you go into that type of group, it’s a marriage. It’s an intimate relationship, and it has that type of emotional connection. It takes the hard work that a marriage takes. In the end, the group did fail. I’ve worked for a single contract holder. I’ve worked for a regional group. I’ve worked as a hospital employee; that’s actually my moonlighting job right now. I’ve worked at a Veterans Affairs hospital, and I’ve worked in academics. Right now, I work for a large national group. I have a gamut of experience, and in each of those different areas, I was part of the business side. I think in my role as president that brings a lot of value.

I actually have experience with a democratic group. I’ve really been interested in group formation since I was a resident. My first project on the EM practice committee was as a co-author of a paper on how to start a democratic group. I was two or three years out of residency, so I was a junior person on that paper.

KK: There’s no reward without risk.