Washington State Medical Association (WSMA)

06/18/2026

To help address the emerging public health crisis in Washington, the WSMA is collaborating with the Washington State Department of Health to bring WSMA members the latest in immunology and epidemiology with the current measles outbreak. Registration is now available for two sessions: 🔗 https://bit.ly/4oA0tIZ
📅 Friday, June 26, noon-1 p.m.
📅 Friday, Aug. 7, noon-1 p.m.

06/13/2026

76% of patients agree that insurance company red tape makes it harder for physicians to provide the best care for their patients. A physician’s best day is spent caring for their patients, not navigating prior authorization approvals. The WSMA urges support for prior authorization reform so that prior authorization does not interfere with patients’ access to care. Learn more: https://wsma.org/advocacy/your-care-is-at-our-core/

06/11/2026

Whether you're looking to get your feet wet with leadership training or you're a seasoned leader who wants to develop more complex skills, the WSMA has a leadership course for you this fall! Explore ourcourses to see which one is right for you: https://bit.ly/49UUPvc

06/05/2026

The first webinar in our summer series with the Help Me Grow Washington team is coming up next Monday, June 8! Learn how Help Me Grow Washington can support physicians and physician assistants in connecting families to essential services including food security, health supports, child development resources, and family stability programs.
Participants will:
✔ Explore referral pathways and what happens after a family is referred.
✔ Learn strategies for integrating Help Me Grow WA into clinical workflows.
✔ Discover tools like the Family Resource Navigator and ParentHelp123 Resource Directory.
✔ Earn AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.

Register free for the entire series, scheduled for June 8, July 13, Aug. 10, and Sept. 14, at: https://bit.ly/4dP4XYG.

06/03/2026

Physicians want to provide care to every patient. Yet decisions made by third parties in health care are limiting how patients get the care they need and deserve. The WISeR pilot program is doing just that.

Says WSMA's Jeb Shepard: "Physicians groups have hired full-time staff just to process prior authorizations on the commercial side. Now they're being subjected to the same difficult processes on the traditional Medicare side. So, it's pulling clinicians away from patient care."

Learn more: https://bit.ly/4dIOR2N

Five months into a pilot program that uses AI to review certain Medicare procedure requests, Washington seniors face new hurdles and worsening health outcomes, according to health care providers and lawmakers.

06/02/2026

Do you know what to look for when reviewing an employment contract or salary offer? This Wednesday, June 3, join WSMA partner Resolve for a member-exclusive lunchtime webinar on guidance for navigating contracts. Thank you to Resolve CEO Kyle Claussen for sharing his expertise!
Register at: https://bit.ly/4x3ZPHy

05/28/2026

Are We Treating ADHD, Or the Conditions of Modern Life? Seattle family physician at Vera Whole Health Alina Urriola, MD, MPH, poses the challenging but necessary question: What does it mean, at a societal level, when growing numbers of adults require long-term stimulant therapy to meet everyday expectations of work and productivity? Her thoughtful concerns in this essay are born of compassion for patients—always the bottom line in the patient-physician relationship. Read her article at: wsma.org/your-care-is-at-our-core.

05/21/2026

"Having a clinical voice in shaping the future of health care in Washington is key for us to get the best possible outcomes for our patients." - Hans P. Cassagnol, MD, senior vice president & CMO for Virginia Mason Franciscan Health/CommonSpirit Health Pacific NW, in our May/June issue of . Read Dr. Cassagnol's full Q&A at wsma.org/your-care-is-at-our-core.

05/20/2026

Thank you to everyone who attended last weekend's Leadership Development Conference! This year, attendees took a deep dive into leadership from a public health perspective, especially through how food insecurity affects patients' overall health and strategies for closing that gap, both in the exam room and at the system level.

Thank you to Jim Krieger, MD; David Ansell, MD; the team from Help Me Grow WA; Marie Spiker, PhD; Jennifer Maxwell, MD; Bindu Nayak, MD; Emely Barragan, MPH, and Gabrielle Frank, RD for speaking on different aspects of this important topic.

Plus, keynote speaker Kelly Casperson, MD, shared her perspective on how physicians can cut through the noise of health misinformation and the importance of physicians' clinical expertise as a core component of providing evidence-based medicine.

Effective communication is a key to maintaining trust with patients, and speakers Heather Sulejman and Lora Shahine, MD, talked about how language can help you disagree better and be a more effective messenger on social media, respectively.

We welcomed our two-time WSMA legislator of the year Sen. Marcus Riccelli, who talked about the legislative process using his years-long efforts to institute free school lunches for Washington students as an example of the persistence it takes to get bills passed in Olympia.

Save the date for next year's conference, May 21-22, 2027, in Chelan!

05/11/2026

Last chance to register for this weekend's Leadership Development Conference! Registration closes at the end of the day today, May 11. Get away for the weekend while strengthening your leadership skills both in and outside of the exam room. See our full conference agenda and register at: wsma.org/ldc.