Michael Repplinger Honored with Distinguished Service Award

September 17, 2020 8:51 AM | Deleted user

WACEP congratulates Michael Repplinger, MD, PhD, FACEP as the recipient of this year's WACEP Distinguished Service Award. The award was presented during the virtual Annual Membership Meeting on September 15, 2020 by WACEP President Ryan Thompson, MD, FACEP. 

Over the last 10 years, Dr. Michael Repplinger has demonstrated a commitment to improving patient care and promoting the profession of emergency medicine. He was UW’s first resident delegate to the WACEP Board and has continued to serve in various roles in WACEP including President in 2013 and Councilor for the past 3 years. During his tenure on the Board, Dr. Repplinger has substantially contributed to numerous WACEP initiatives, resulting in important changes to Wisconsin’s statutes. Examples include changing the statutory definition of informed consent for medical care, reinstating medical malpractice caps for noneconomic damages, and providing statutory liability protection when conducting body cavity searches. 

Outside of political lobbying, Dr. Repplinger has advocated for emergency physicians at the Wisconsin Medical Society and in teaching medical students and residents. He has personally penned and successfully promoted the adoption of resolutions favorable to emergency medicine including a policy supporting the increase of Medicaid reimbursement for EMTALA-related services. Current initiatives led or substantially bolstered by Dr. Repplinger include streamlining and standardizing the medical assessment of patients being admitted with mental health crises, improving the current version of a web-based statewide psychiatric bed locator, and reversing the current Medicaid policy that bars reimbursement for inpatient psychiatric care at freestanding psychiatric hospitals. 

Beyond his patient and profession-centered advocacy efforts, Dr. Repplinger is a stellar emergency care researcher, focused on the use of radiation-free imaging in the ED. He has been awarded several federal, foundation, and institutional grants, published nearly 40 peer-reviewed articles, and received numerous research awards. His unique line of research is innovative and practice changing. 

For all these reasons and more, WACEP is delighted to announce that Dr. Repplinger is this year’s recipient of the Distinguished Service Award.

The WACEP Distinguished Service Award program began in 2018 to annually recognize a WACEP member who has made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of the emergency medicine specialty, and who has demonstrated the ideals of the organization through their ongoing activities and accomplishments.