Neal Richmond Named New Medical Director for MedStar EMS/Mobile Healthcare System
Fort Worth, TX, December 10, 2014 — The Emergency Physician’s Advisory Board (EPAB), the medical oversight agency for MedStar system, is pleased to announce that Neal J. Richmond, MD, has been named as its new medical director. Dr. Richmond was selected from an extensive national search with a multitude of qualified applicants, according to Dr. Steve Martin, the EPAB chair.
Dr. Richmond comes to MedStar from Louisville, KY, where he has served as Chief Executive Officer and Medical Director for Louisville Metro EMS for most of the past decade.
While in Louisville, Dr. Richmond implemented numerous innovative programs that have improved patient outcomes and reduced costs to the healthcare system. These include a Paramedic Patient Care Navigator program and a 9-1-1 Nurse Triage program (similar to the programs provided by MedStar), as well as a number of ongoing initiatives to reduce 911 recidivism from low-income senior living facilities and homeless shelters. Dr. Richmond also implemented programs to reduce hospital emergency department turnaround times for EMS units, an initiative recently published in Harvard's Kennedy School Data Smart City Solutions Journal.
Prior to his role in Louisville, Dr. Richmond was Deputy Medical Director for the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), where he played a major role in the city’s rescue and recovery efforts during the events of September 11, 2001, both as Medical Team Manager for FEMA's New York Task Force-1, and as a member of the multidisciplinary Public Health and Safety Working Group. He pioneered an EMS Fellowship program between FDNY and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and served as the former Assistant Program Director for the residency in Emergency Medicine at Long Island Jewish Hospital.
“The Fort Worth EMS system is one of the most innovative and well recognized EMS systems in the country. Dr. Richmond has a very patient-centered focus and a demonstrated history of implementing innovations in both Louisville and New York City which makes him the perfect fit for our community” says Dr. Martin. “Under the clinical leadership of Dr. Richmond, we will be able to continue the transformation of MedStar, and our EMS system, from simply providing emergency medical services to becoming a fully integrated partner with the healthcare system through the growth of our mobile integrated healthcare programs” Dr. Martin explains.
About EBAP and the MedStar System
The Emergency Physician’s Advisory Board is the medical oversight agency for the MedStar system. This includes MedStar Mobile Healthcare and the EMS first responders (Fire and Police) serving Fort Worth and 14 communities in North Central Texas. The system responds to over 120,000 calls each year for over 880,000 residents. MedStar Mobile Healthcare is governed by the Area Metropolitan Ambulance Authority and is one of only 33 agencies in the country to achieve dual accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services and the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch. MedStar was named the 2013 Paid EMS Provider of the Year by the National Association of EMTs and EMS World Magazine, a Top 10 EMS Innovator in 2009 and 2013, and was named the Texas EMS Provider of the year in 2010.
