Long-time Georgia Hospital Association president and CEO Joseph Parker will retire June 30, 2013.

When Parker retires next year, he will have served the association for 35 years — 27 of those as president. Parker, 66, helped create the Georgia Indigent Care Trust Fund -- a program that reimburses hospitals that treat large numbers of uninsured patients and preserves access to care for hundreds of thousands of Georgians.

The association's executive committee will meet in the next few weeks to begin searching for a replacement.