Washington State Medical Association (WSMA)

10/16/2026

📢 Contact your representative in Congress today and urge them to cosponsor the Patients First Act, H.R. 9693! This bipartisan bill would help create a more stable and predictable Medicare payment system so physicians can keep caring for patients in their communities by:
✅ Providing a permanent annual payment update tied to the Medicare Economic Index to better reflect increases in practice costs.
✅ Modernizing budget neutrality policies, including provisions from H.R. 8163.
✅ Creating a physician-led process for developing simplified, clinically relevant quality measures.
✅ Expanding opportunities for physicians to participate in alternative payment models.
📧 Send your message here: https://wsma.org/advocacy/take-action-patients-first/?_zs=lfaFd1&_zl=JpaxA

10/09/2026

Congratulations to Coulee Medical Center on the development of its new family medicine residency program, in partnership with University of Washington School of Medicine - WWAMI! Great to see the state’s Rural Health Transformation Program funds going to new residencies, a standing WSMA priority.

🔗 Read about the program here:

People at Coulee Medical Center are excited to begin development of a rural family medicine residency training program in partnership with the University of Washington School of Medicine, a long-term investment in the future of healthcare in the community. The goal is simple, they say: train physici...

10/09/2026

Happy to Washington's physician assistants! Thank you for your partnership in providing excellent patient care for Washingtonians and for your efforts at making the WSMA a vibrant, effective statewide medical association. This Oct. 6-12, the WSMA thanks you for your service to medicine: to patients, to the profession, and to Washington state.

10/09/2026

It's not hard to see why Daniel Low, MD, was one of the recipients of our Grassroots Advocate Award this year. For Dr. Low, a family medicine physician at HealthPoint in Renton, providing healthcare means much more than seeing patients on a daily basis: It also means confronting the structural challenges that cause patients to need care in the first place and addressing equity in the healthcare workforce.

Read more about Dr. Low's advocacy work, including founding the HealthPoint Health Scholars Program, which provides exposure, opportunity, and mentorship to high school students interested in a healthcare career who belong to underrepresented groups in health and medicine. https://lnkd.in/gkjeV8jt

10/08/2026

The final session in our webinar series with Help Me Grow Washington is next Monday, Oct. 12, featuring Marie Spiker, PhD, from the University of Washington School of Public Health and co-lead of the Washington State Food Security Surveys. Marie will do a deep dive on food security measurement:
📈 What exactly are we measuring?
📈How is measurement done in population settings and clinical settings?
📈 How can physicians act on data from food security screeners?

🔗 Register for the webinar here: https://bit.ly/473TvnY
🔗 Catch up on the sessions you missed as videos or podcast episodes here: https://bit.ly/47nUhfL

10/06/2026

Each year at the WSMA Annual Meeting, we recognize members and organizations for extraordinary leadership, service, and contributions to medicine, and patient safety through the WSMA Apple Awards. Congratulations to this year's recipients! Read more about the exceptional work of this year's winners here: https://bit.ly/4rMwE9K.

🍎 Two physician members received the Grassroots Advocate Award: Claire Brutocao, MD, a psychiatrist at Providence Inland Northwest Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane and associate program director of the Providence Psychiatry Residency Spokane, and Daniel Low, MD, a family medicine physician at HealthPoint in Renton.

🍎Named after the late WSMA Past President William O. Robertson, MD, a champion for patient safety, risk management, and quality improvement, the 2026 William O. Robertson, MD, Patient Safety Award, which recognizes innovative patient safety initiatives in the ambulatory care setting, was awarded to Kaiser Permanente Washington. Peter Barkett, MD, accepted the award on the organization's behalf.

🍎 Finally, the President’s Unsung Hero Award, which recognizes the WSMA member who contributes extraordinary service to the profession and our community, was presented to Chelsi Goodman, MD, a family medicine physician on faculty with MultiCare Health System’s East Pierce Family Medicine Residency program in Puyallup, where she serves as the liaison for obstetrics, gynecology, community medicine, and medical student education.

09/30/2026

Congratulations to WSMA's 2026-2027 President Matt Hollon, MD, MPH, MACP, who we inaugurated last Saturday at the WSMA Annual Meeting in Spokane!

Dr. Hollon has practiced primary care internal medicine for more than 30 years, including 20 years in Spokane. He is program director of the MultiCare Spokane Internal Medicine Residency and serves as a clinical professor at both University of Washington School of Medicine - WWAMI and the WSU Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. He is past president of the Spokane County Medical Society and past governor of the American College of Physicians (ACP) Washington Chapter.

Joining him as WSMA officers are President-elect Bindu Nayak, MD; Vice President John D. Scott, MD; Secretary-Treasurer Colin Fields, MD; and Immediate Past President Bridget Bush, MD, FASA.

Congratulations to Dr. Hollon and the entire 2026–2027 WSMA leadership team!

Read more about Dr. Hollon here: https://bit.ly/4hUiZtT

📸 Photos by Lisa Venticinque.

09/23/2026

Health policy decisions that are made in Washington D.C. are felt in clinics and hospitals across Washington state and the country. Although lawmakers’ decisions directly affect the doctor-patient relationship, Congress

09/17/2026

Today is National Physician Su***de Awareness Day, an an opportunity for the WSMA and health organizations to reinforce physician well-being, peer support, su***de-prevention education, and systems that make confidential mental healthcare easier to access. Increasingly, healthcare organizations and leaders are raising awareness of physician su***de, working to reducing stigma around mental healthcare, and encouraging physicians and colleagues to recognize warning signs and seek or offer support.
💙 Learn the 7 actions you can take to prevent physician su***de: https://npsaday.org/

If your organization is looking to update or launch wellness efforts, or if you’re simply looking for engagement and inspiration from colleagues in the field, the WSMA Foundation Physician and Practitioner Wellness Podcast provides a library of ideas for taking meaningful action to reduce burnout and improve professional satisfaction, all informed by the latest research. The 13-episode podcast is free and open to all practitioner types.

🔗 Access the podcast:
On the WSMA website: https://bit.ly/4xvlpE3
On Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3HrBV3C
On Spotify: https://bit.ly/3ZkVb97

09/16/2026

"People need to see and feel the heart of medicine again." In celebration of , we're sharing our latest Member Spotlight on Elizabeth Wako, MD, the only female physician health system CEO currently in Washington state. Read more from Dr. Wako on why she's a WSMA member, her top lessons for leadership, what she's reading, and more: https://wsma.org/advocacy/your-care-is-at-our-core/

Women now make up nearly half of all physicians in training, and their presence has transformed what compassionate, patient-centered care looks like across Washington and the nation. From the exam room to leadership roles, women physicians continue to strengthen the bond between doctors and patients that is built to protect.

This month, we're recognizing Dr. Wako and the women physicians of Washington — and the difference they make every day.