Soon after Brent Walker, MD, entered private practice as an anesthesiologist and pain management specialist with Little Rock Anesthesia Services in the late 1990s, St. Paul Insurance Company pulled its medical liability coverage out of Arkansas.

 

At the time, Walker admittedly knew very little about medical malpractice insurance, and simply thought of it, he said, as something “for which I paid a lot of money and hopefully would never need.”

 

“I remember hearing the older doctors talking about it—they sounded very concerned—but I didn’t pay much attention at the time. However, my understanding of medical liability insurance has grown exponentially over the years,” said Walker, who became managing partner of the Little Rock-based practice and also medical director of Arkansas Medical Insurance Company (AMIC). “I now realize the potential catastrophic consequences of relying on out-of-state insurers who at a moment’s notice could decide to leave the state. This was the main reason for the formation of AMIC.”

 

Walker and other Arkansas physicians helped establish AMIC for the sole purpose of serving the needs of doctors in the state.

 

“We’re blessed in the state of Arkansas to have physicians who provide a very high level of quality medical care,” said Walker. “We designed this company to reward those doctors with the highest level of protection at reasonable rates. We accomplish this by selecting physicians whom we feel adhere to these qualifications, as well as keeping a very low overhead.”

 

Walker, who handles medical underwriting and claims review for AMIC, helps determine “if a physician meets our strict criteria for liability coverage,” he explained, “… and once a claim arises, how to best defend the policyholder.”

 

Walker’s desire for taking the extra step to help his fellow man—and determining the career path he followed—can be traced to his roots. Born in Fort Benning, Ga., Walker moved with his family to Sheridan, Ark., when he was in the third grade. His father, Phillip, a helicopter pilot, was a lieutenant colonel in the Arkansas National Guard. His mother, Alice, a licensed practical nurse, worked for a family physician. “Both parents held full-time jobs, but always managed to attend every event, sporting or otherwise, during my childhood—whether I wanted them there or not,” he said. “Not until later in life did I realize how important this was to me.”

 

“My mother was always the one pushing me toward medicine,” he recalled fondly. “My father was very patient with me, but did motivate me to get my act together.” (Both parents died within a 2-year span during Walker’s medical school days.)

 

Walker enjoyed “several fun years” at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where he first met his future wife, Peri-Gay. “She didn’t really like me at first, but I was pretty immature at the time,” Walker joked. It wasn’t until he entered medical school at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) that they reconnected and fell in love.

 

During his fourth year at UAMS, Walker was selected chief resident.

 

“Choosing anesthesiology and pain management was easy for me,” said Walker. “I enjoyed the excitement of the operating room, the management of the physiology of the human body during the surgical procedure, and the opportunity to help people through an unfamiliar, often scary, time of their lives with minimal anxiety and to see them emerge after the procedure safely and pain free. It also provided me some control over my schedule so that I could attend many, many, very important soccer games and dance recitals.” (Walker and his wife, a former surgical intensive care nurse and an interior decorator, have two daughters, Paige, 15, and Meri-Shaye, 12, who are both very active in soccer, dance, and cheer.)

 

In 2008, Walker, who has served as director of Arkansas Surgical Center and alternate board director from Arkansas to the American Society of Anesthesiology, put his house on the market in Little Rock, and moved to northwest Arkansas to join Ozark Regional Anesthesia Services.

 

“I’d always wanted to move back to Fayetteville, and it was a terrific experience,” said Walker, whose Little Rock home remained unsold after two years on the market. “An opportunity came up for me to return to Little Rock, so we moved back into our home there in May.”

 

Walker rejoined Little Rock Anesthesia Services; the move put him closer to the home office of AMIC.