January 26, 2006 -  Dr. Edward Racht of Austin, Texas, has been named to the CAAS Board of Directors by the National Association of EMS Physicians as their CAAS representative, replacing Dr. David Cone, Yale School of Medicine, Chief, EMS Division.

Dr. Racht is Medical Director for the City of Austin, Travis County Emergency Medical Services System, a position he has held since 1995. He has been the Chair of the Governor’s EMS and Trauma Advisory Council for the State of Texas since 2000 and a Clinical Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at UT Southwestern. Dr. Racht is a graduate of Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. Among his many honors, he was named Texas EMS Medical Director of the Year in 1999. Dr. Racht serves on many boards and committees and has made significant contributions to EMS through the literature and as a frequently invited speaker at professional meetings and conferences. He is an active member of NAEMSP and is known for his passion of promulgating the concept of EMS as a unique Practice of Medicine.

At their January 21^st meeting in Tucson, Arizona, the CAAS Board of Directors honored David Cone’s years of service with a crystal award that reads, “Presented to Dr. David Cone with sincere appreciation for your invaluable support and dedicated efforts in shaping the ‘gold standards of excellence’ in the ambulance industry.”

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The Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services (CAAS) was formed in 1990 as a not-for-profit agency to be a standard bearer for medical transportation systems. It is sponsored by the American Ambulance Association, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the National Association of EMS Physicians, the National Association of State EMS Officials, the National Association of EMTs, and the International Association of Fire Chiefs, with liaison representation from The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. Accreditation signifies that ambulance services have met the “gold standard” determined by the ambulance industry to be essential in a modern emergency medical services provider.