EmCare CEO and leadership

Todd Zimmerman is a Board Chair at Extant Healthcare, Member Board Of Directors at NorthStar Anesthesia, and Proprietor at Septenary Winery and is based in Dallas, Texas. He has worked as Legal Counsel at EmCare, Exec VP/General Counsel at EmCare, and General Counsel at Emergency Medical Srvcs Corp. Todd studied at SLU between 1983 and 1987 and University of Virginia School of Law between 1987 and 1990.

Denise Opiela is a COO at EmCare. She studied at Villanova University between 1980 and 1989.

Dighton Packard has practiced emergency medicine for more than 30 years. In addition to his duties as Chief Medical Officer for EmCare, Dighton Packard also serves as Chief Medical Officer of Envision Healthcare, the parent company of EmCare Inc. Dighton Packard serves as the chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, and is a member of the Board of Trustees for Baylor University Medical Center. He received his BS from Baylor University at Waco, Texas, and his MD from the University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio.

Dr. Smith is Senior Vice President for Envision Physician Services. He has more than 22 years of clinical leadership in medical staff development, emergency medicine and healthcare informatics. His responsibilities with Envision involve P&L responsibilities, physician leadership and health system level relationship management of 30+ hospitals in the mid-Atlantic and northeast US. His service line responsibilities include adult and pediatric emergency medicine, adult hospitalist, acute and sub-acute rehabilitation services, and ICU specialties. He previously served as an emergency physician and Army medic within the US Army Reserves and retired in 2018 with the rank of Colonel. Prior to joining EPS, he served as the Chair of Emergency Medicine, at INOVA Fair Oaks Hospital where he focused his efforts on improving departmental throughput, optimization of the physician workflow, and integration of the flow of information across the health system. His efforts led to a physician group and department that reached the top decile in patient satisfaction, the top 5% in departmental length of stay and physician satisfaction.Dr. Smith has held several senior leadership roles during his career including senior leader and vice-president of a physician-led emergency medicine and hospitalist management group and a physician leader within the Inova Health System. While at Inova, Dr Smith was a clinical leader for the deployment of a PACCS imaging system. He also led the implementation of a telemetry/EKG monitoring system. He was the lead physician on a system-wide emergency department Electronic Medical Record implementation. His knowledge of departmental and physician leadership has played a key role in assisting other departments and health systems with EMR implementation and emergency department process improvements. Dr. Smith has a background in using a number of EMRs including Cerner, EPIC, PICIS pulse check, AHLTA, MEDITECH, and GE.

Francisco Loya is CEO of EmCare Hospital Medicine. In addition to his EmCare duties, Francisco Loya serves on several committees for the Society of Hospital Medicine, including the Practice Administrators Committee, the Hospital Quality and Patient Safety Committee and the Information Technology Committee. As a physician,Francisco Loya specializes in internal medicine. He earned his undergraduate degree at Rice University, earning a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. His M.D. came from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas and his internal medicine residency was completed at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston – an affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Francisco Loya has also earned his Master of Science degree in Healthcare Management from the Harvard School of Public Health. After earning his master’s degree, Francisco Loya created the technology he named CMORx, which is now offered exclusively by EmCare.

Kirk Jensen is the Chief Innovation Officer for EmCare. He is also the Chief Medical Officer of BestPractices and serves as a Medical Director for Studer Group. He has spent more than 20 years in emergency medicine management and clinical care and is a respected expert in patient safety, performance improvement and patient flow. Jensen has held numerous leadership positions with The Institute for Healthcare Improvement and was named Speaker of the Year by the American College of Emergency Physicians. He has been involved in coaching and/or consulting with more than 200 hospitals nationwide and has developed some of the most innovative and creative solutions in emergency medicine. Jensen holds degrees from the University of Illinois (Champaign), the University of Illinois (Chicago) and the University of Tennessee (Knoxville). He completed his residency in emergency medicine at the University of Chicago.

Paul Silka Silka joined EmCare as an Executive Vice President with West Division in 2013 and was selected to lead the Division in 2015. As the West Division Chief Executive Officer, Paul Silka takes a data-driven approach to supporting clients in delivering service excellence and quality patient care. Prior to joining EmCare, Paul Silka was the Chief Medical Information Officer for Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Cedars-Sinai Health System and previously held the Chief of Staff position for this prominent health system in 2006 and 2007. Paul Silka was associate Medical Director and Vice Chair of the Emergency department from 1998 until 2008. He is continues to practice emergency medicine and is Associate Clinical Professor at the Keck School of Medicine, within the University of Southern California. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Pepperdine University and his medical degree from the University of Health Sciences/Chicago Medical School. He completed his residency training at Los Angeles County/USC School of Medicine in Emergency Medicine. Paul Silka continued his education with completion of the Andersen School of Business UCLA/Cedars-Sinai Healthcare Management Program. He has numerous peer reviewed publications in the areas of emergency medicine, quality improvement, and clinical informatics. In addition to supporting hospital clients and site medical directors in achieving goals for quality, metric improvement and departmental performance, Paul Silka provides internal consulting for medical informatics across EmCare. His vision for to achieve transformation of clinical practice through the synchronization of excellent clinicians, client service, and optimized clinical information systems is a passion to which he is committed.

Dr. Strachan has more than 25 years of clinical experience as a practicing emergency and urgent care physician, internist and hospitalist. He is a skilled and seasoned physician executive driven by a passion for learning and execution. As a multi-layered and multi-dimensional professional with a skill set developed over his career in healthcare consulting, outsourced staffing enterprises and payor provider relations, Dr. Strachan brings a wealth of experience to his role as SVP and Chief Medical Officer of Inpatient Care Management at Optum.Dr. Strachan is recognized for his ability to bring clarity to existing opportunities and business potential and has a demonstrated ability to attract, focus, mobilize and lead the right talent. His experience allows him to credibly engage all functional silos within an organization and create the conditions of productive strategic dialogue, thereby leveraging high levels of physician engagement to achieve superior execution.

Andy Scoggins is a COO EmCare Physician Services at EmCare, Senior Vice President at Emergency Medical Associates (EMA), and Division COO at EmCare Physician Services Inc and is based in Pensacola, Florida. He attended Mississippi State University between 1990 and 1995.

Bill Yarbrough, Chief Executive Officer of EmCare Physician Services (EPS), joined the company in 1989 and has dedicated the majority of his career to meeting the needs of community hospitals. He previously served as EmCare EPS Chief Operating Officer and Vice President of Client Services. His prior experience includes leadership positions in both Spectrum Healthcare and Professional Anesthesia Services. Bill Yarbrough has an extensive background in physician group practice operations, and is a graduate of the University of West Florida.