| call-for-declarations-of-harm-from-federal-removal-of-publicly-available-health-data | Call for Declarations of Harm from Federal Removal of Publicly Available Health Data | Latest_News | Shared_Content/News/advocacy-report/2025/july-18/call-for-declarations-of-harm-from-federal-removal-of-publicly-available-health-data | <div class="col-md-12">
<div class="col-sm-5 pull-right" style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/Newsletters/advocacy-report/2025/july/bill-oxford-OXGhu60NwxU-unsplash-645x425px.jpg" class="pull-right" alt="wooden gavel" /></div>
<h5>July 17, 2025</h5>
<h2>Call for Declarations of Harm from Federal Removal of Publicly Available Health Data </h2>
<p>Aligned with our mission to provide leadership and advocacy to shape the future of medicine and advance quality care for Washingtonians, the WSMA is leading a legal challenge to the federal administration's removal of essential public health and scientific data from federal websites. The case, <a href="[@]Shared_Content/News/Press_Release/2025/washington-health-groups-sue-to-stop-federal-governments-deletion-of-vital-health-data-and-resources.aspx">Washington State Medical Association et. al. v. Kennedy et. al.</a>, is proceeding, and there have been promising developments, including a recent win in a <a href="https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/legal-regulatory-issues/court-finds-hhs-wrongly-scrubbed-agency-webpages/">Doctors for America lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services</a>, a similar case to ours, if narrower in scope.</p>
<p>The case now enters the most important phase: preparing the plaintiff and third-party declarations of harm, which will demonstrate to the court how this data scrubbing is impacting WSMA members and causing real-world problems. These stories will humanize the harm and cut through the legalese and bureaucratic jargon that is otherwise pervasive in these types of cases. The more stories and details we can provide, the more convincing and powerful our case will be.</p>
<p><strong>We are looking for individuals and organizations to submit declarations of harm.</strong> The process is simple and requires only a 20-minute interview with the legal team, who will then draft the declaration on your behalf. You will have the opportunity to review it, make changes to it, and then send it back to the attorneys to file. During the interview, the legal team will want to know what you do, who you serve, and how you and those you serve are harmed (without, of course, disclosing any confidential or otherwise protected information). These declarations will be filed publicly and under penalty of perjury. This means your statement will be part of the public record, and you are affirming that what you share is true to the best of your knowledge. Your declaration will be just one of among dozens of others who are also telling their stories.</p>
<p>We will aim to wrap up interviews by Aug. 17 with some flexibility. If you are willing to submit a declaration to the court telling your own personal story of impact, contact WSMA Director of Communications <a href="mailto:gfs@wsma.org">Graham Short</a>.</p>
<h3><strong>Examples of harms, specific and broad</strong></h3>
<p> </p>
<p>To help you consider this request, some examples of real-world harm from WSMA members in a member survey this spring include: </p>
<ul>
<li>"I use the CDC website frequently to get up to date recommendations regarding STI treatment (especially syphilis, which is sharply rising in our state)." </li>
<li>"I frequently reference the Medical Eligibility Criteria for Contraceptive Use." </li>
<li>"I refer to these routinely, at least four times per year, to ensure I'm providing up to date treatment for STIs. Further, my residency team refers to these at least weekly if not daily, and they disappeared." </li>
<li>"We need this data for a randomized trial to improve cervical cancer screening in these health systems." </li>
<li>"Risk that clinical studies are not accurate for treatment effects in all patients" </li>
</ul>
<p>Health care organizations-medical societies, medical groups, clinics, health systems, hospitals, etc.-are encouraged to submit a declaration on behalf of their organization. Some examples of the broader context of harm caused by these selective data removals: </p>
<ul>
<li>Relying on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Health and Human Services data to guide care for rising STI rates, maternal health risks, opioid-related harms, and environmental exposures.</li>
<li>Ensuring continuing medical education is grounded in up-to-date, publicly available data.</li>
<li>Engaging with lawmakers and public agencies to improve access to care and health outcomes across populations by providing localized and disaggregated data.</li>
<li>Managing grant-funded health care improvement programs that depend on reliable and accessible public data.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Why this is important </h3>
<p>These stories from members and health care organizations could very well be the most compelling, by demonstrating to the judge the real-world impact of the data scrubbing on patient care, medical education, health care advocacy, and health care quality improvement efforts. As our legal team put it, "We want to put a literal stack of declarations from organizations, providers, researchers, on the judge's desk so she fully grasps how big of a deal this is." </p>
<h3>Restoring the scrubbed data </h3>
<p>Declarants are encouraged to be specific as to the websites and data sources that were removed, scrubbed, or otherwise edited, that have impacted their work. The likely outcome of this lawsuit, if successful, is to have those specific data restored.</p>
<h3>To submit a declaration </h3>
<p>To submit a declaration, contact WSMA Director of Communications <a href="mailto:gfs@wsma.org">Graham Short</a>, who will arrange next steps. Please act as soon as possible and no later than Aug. 17, if possible.</p>
<h3>Help us by amplifying this call for declarations </h3>
<p>If you have colleagues in your practice or system who were impacted, please extend this call for declarations to them-the more the better. Please also extend the call to your system leaders, if they'd like to consider submitting a declaration on behalf of their organization. Interested parties may contact WSMA Director of Communications <a href="mailto:gfs@wsma.org">Graham Short</a>.</p>
<h3>Background </h3>
<p><a href="[@]Shared_Content/News/Press_Release/2025/washington-health-groups-sue-to-stop-federal-governments-deletion-of-vital-health-data-and-resources.aspx">WSMA press release announcing lawsuit</a> (includes relevant Executive Orders) </p>
<p><a href="https://wsma-my.sharepoint.com/personal/katiehoward_wsma_org/_layouts/15/onedrive.aspx?id=%2Fpersonal%2Fkatiehoward%5Fwsma%5Forg%2FDocuments%2FAdvocacy%20Report%2FJuly%202025%2FMedical%2Dinformation%2Dfederal%2Dlawsuit%5FWSMA%2Dpress%2Dkit%2Epdf&amp;parent=%2Fpersonal%2Fkatiehoward%5Fwsma%5Forg%2FDocuments%2FAdvocacy%20Report%2FJuly%202025&amp;ga=1">WSMA press kit with excerpts from member survey</a> </p>
<p><a href="https://wsma-my.sharepoint.com/personal/katiehoward_wsma_org/_layouts/15/onedrive.aspx?id=%2Fpersonal%2Fkatiehoward%5Fwsma%5Forg%2FDocuments%2FAdvocacy%20Report%2FJuly%202025%2FDatabase%20Litigation%5FAffected%20Websites%20Mar%2E%2019%2Epdf&amp;parent=%2Fpersonal%2Fkatiehoward%5Fwsma%5Forg%2FDocuments%2FAdvocacy%20Report%2FJuly%202025&amp;ga=1">List of affected websites</a> (as of March 19 - may not be comprehensive) </p>
</div> | 7/18/2025 12:00:00 AM | 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM |
| federal-government-blocks-medicaid-access-program | Federal Government Blocks Medicaid Access Program | Latest_News | Shared_Content/News/advocacy-report/2025/july-18/federal-government-blocks-medicaid-access-program | <div class="col-md-12">
<div class="col-sm-5 pull-right" style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/Newsletters/advocacy-report/2025/july/Stock.image_2017.US.Capitol.Building.bright-645x425px.jpg" class="pull-right" alt="US Capitol Building" /></div>
<h5>July 17, 2025</h5>
<h2>Federal Government Blocks Medicaid Access Program </h2>
<p>The passage of the Medicaid Access Program <a href="https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/?BillNumber=1392&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=false">legislation</a> during the 2025 state legislative session represented the culmination of years of advocacy on the part of the WSMA and our state's physician community. Through our work on the bill, we knew that federal approval would be necessary for the program to be implemented. Unfortunately, recent actions taken at the federal level likely mean that the program will not be able to be implemented as designed.</p>
<p>The reconciliation package signed into law by President Donald Trump included a host of provisions related to Medicaid, largely intended to cut federal funding for the program. This includes a prohibition on the establishment of new "provider taxes," such as the covered lives assessment that funded reimbursement rate increases in the Medicaid Access Program.</p>
<p>Provider taxes have been used for decades to help support state Medicaid programs. In our state, such taxes are in place for hospitals, nursing homes, and ambulances. Under the reconciliation law, the maximum amount that can be collected for existing provider taxes is reduced, in addition to the prospective prohibition. The combination of the Medicaid Access Program being blocked and existing provider taxes being reduced means that our state's Medicaid system will lose billions of dollars.</p>
<p>Prior to the passage of the reconciliation package, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/05/15/2025-08566/medicaid-program-preserving-medicaid-funding-for-vulnerable-populations-closing-a-health">released a rulemaking</a> in May that proposed outlawing the covered lives assessment mechanism that funded the Medicaid Access Program. CMS estimates that elimination of the assessments will reduce federal spending by up to $74 billion in the next five years. This policy change means that even if the reconciliation law had not impacted provider taxes, it's likely that CMS would have blocked implementation of the Medicaid Access Program.</p>
<p>Increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates to promote enrollees' access to care and better reflect the cost of delivering care has been a longstanding priority of the WSMA. We advocated against the reconciliation package and have also submitted a comment in response to the CMS rulemaking, sharing our concerns with the impact this will have on access to care in our state.</p>
<p>Put simply, the Medicaid system has long been severely underfunded. While we've known there has been federal scrutiny on provider taxes, lopping off federal funding will result in physicians being able to treat fewer Medicaid enrollees, and for some clinics it may jeopardize their ability to remain viable. It's a reckless move that will worsen health outcomes for the poorest residents of our state who rely on Medicaid for access to care.</p>
<p>In the face of federal cuts and a challenging state budget dynamic, the WSMA will continue to advocate for Medicaid rate increases. We are grateful to everyone in the physician community who joined us in advocating for the Medicaid Access Program in recent years. This is a roadblock, but it's not the end of the road. We will work at the federal level to revise restrictions for the covered lives assessment, and at the state level to increase funding for Medicaid. If you have questions or want to be involved in this advocacy, contact <a href="mailto:sean@wsma.org">Sean Graham</a>, WSMA Senior Director of Government Affairs and Policy.</p>
</div> | 7/18/2025 12:00:00 AM | 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM |
| your-house-of-delegates-resolutions-shape-wsma-advocacy-state-policy | Your House of Delegates Resolutions Shape WSMA Advocacy, State Policy | Latest_News | Shared_Content/News/advocacy-report/2025/july-18/your-house-of-delegates-resolutions-shape-wsma-advocacy-state-policy | <div class="col-md-12">
<div class="col-sm-5 pull-right" style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/Newsletters/advocacy-report/2025/july/Resolutions-Print-2-Cropped-645x425px.png" class="pull-right" alt="resolutions" /></div>
<h5>July 17, 2025</h5>
<h2>Your House of Delegates Resolutions Shape WSMA Advocacy, State Policy </h2>
<p>Your leadership through the WSMA House of Delegates helps guide our advocacy and build awareness of important issues impacting patients and the house of medicine. The WSMA's Government Affairs and Policy Department is always on the lookout for opportunities to advance policies-both those have been recently passed, as well as established WSMA policy.</p>
<p>Policy resolutions are voted on each year at the Annual Meeting of the WSMA House of Delegates, and as we approach the Aug. 9 deadline for resolutions to be published in the delegate handbook ahead of the 2025 Annual Meeting, we're looking back at how WSMA policies helped shape our advocacy during the 2025 legislative session.    </p>
<h3>
Reproductive health </h3>
<p>
The WSMA has numerous policies on the books in support of patient access to reproductive health care, including protections for physicians, physician assistants, and other health care professionals providing these services (Resolution C-13 from 2022). Guided by these policies, the WSMA supported Senate Bill 5632, legislation to strengthen our state's "shield law," which provides legal protections for patients and health care practitioners related to the delivery of reproductive and gender-affirming care.
</p>
<h3>Contraception </h3>
<p>Aligned with policy supporting access to and coverage for contraception (<a href="[@]wsma/about/policies/whats_our_policy/insurance/prior-authorization.aspx">Resolution C-1 from 2024</a>), the WSMA worked in coalition to support Senate Bill 5498 to ensure carriers are required to reimburse for a 12-month supply of contraceptives rather than just refills.</p>
<h3>Physician well-being </h3>
<p>At the direction of House of Delegates policy addressing physician burnout (Resolution B-10 from 2023), the WSMA introduced House Bill 1718 in partnership with the Washington Chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to ensure confidentiality protections for physician well-being programs, an important resource for physician and physician assistant career fatigue and workforce retention, and secured its unanimous passage into law.</p>
<h3>Vaccines </h3>
<p>A longstanding priority of the WSMA and supported by House of Delegates policy (<a href="[@]wsma/about/policies/whats_our_policy/immunizations/misinformation.aspx">Resolution B-16 from 2022</a>), our organization worked with public health advocates to secure passage of House Bill 1531 to ensure community responses to communicable diseases are guided by the best available science, including vaccines.</p>
<h3>Plastic waste </h3>
<p>Policy from the 2024 House of Delegates (<a href="[@]wsma/about/policies/whats_our_policy/environmental-health/micro-and-nano-plastics.aspx">Resolution B-8</a>) recognizing the importance of modernizing our state's recycling system to be more sustainable led to our support of Senate Bill 5284, which expands recycling opportunities for Washingtonians and incentivizes more sustainable options for the producers of packaging to reduce environmental impacts.</p>
<h3>Eat, Sleep, Console </h3>
<p>Adoption of policy in support of neonatal abstinence syndrome treatment and management programs (<a href="[@]wsma/about/policies/whats_our_policy/prenatal-postnatal-and-infant-care/use-of-eat-sleep-console-as-treatment-for-neonatal-abstinence-syndrome.aspx">Resolution C-9 from 2022</a>) corresponds with a $2 million investment in the state budget for the operations of a pilot program providing these services to infants with prenatal substance exposure.</p>
<h3>Primary care investment </h3>
<p>Based on policy directing the WSMA to advocate for increased investment in primary care (<a href="[@]wsma/about/policies/whats_our_policy/access-to-health-care-health-care-reform/increasing-investment-in-primary-care.aspx">Resolution C-16 from 2023</a>), we worked with the Washington Academy of Family Physicians in support of Senate Bill 5084 to ensure the state is making progress toward its primary care investment goals by authorizing the insurance commissioner to require carriers to annually report on their primary care expenditures.</p>
<h3>Scope of practice </h3>
<p>A perennial priority of the WSMA, the physician community successfully worked to defeat all scope bills we opposed during the 2025 session-including proposals from naturopaths, pharmacists, and psychologists-pursuant to our policy promoting patient safety by ensuring that practitioners have adequate education and training (<a href="[@]wsma/about/policies/whats_our_policy/scope-of-practice/scope-of-practice-general.aspx">Resolution A-19 from 2020</a>).   </p>
<h3>Physician reimbursement </h3>
<p>In line with WSMA policy supporting allowance for recognition of qualitative distinctions in education and training between physicians and other practitioners in reimbursement from insurance carriers (<a href="[@]wsma/about/policies/whats_our_policy/insurance/equal-pay-for-equal-work.aspx">Resolution 16 from 1989</a>), we successfully worked to defeat House Bill 1430, legislation mandating advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants be paid at the same rate as physicians.  </p>
<h3>Climate change </h3>
<p>Policies were adopted at the 2024 House of Delegates recognizing the health care sector's contributions to climate impacts (<a href="[@]404.aspx?aspxerrorpath=/wsma/about/policies/whats_our_policy/decarbonizing-the-us-health-sector.aspx">Resolution B-4</a> and <a href="[@]wsma/about/policies/whats_our_policy/environmental-health/anesthesia.aspx">Resolution C-10</a>), which informed WSMA's advocacy in support of Senate Bill 5236. Among other provisions, this legislation would have provided guidance on the use of anesthesia gases in medical settings while maintaining clinical judgement. The bill did not pass but will be reintroduced in the 2026 session.</p>
<h3>Noncompetition agreements </h3>
<p>A topic of discussion at the House of Delegates for many years, definitive policy passed directing WSMA's support for a ban on noncompetition clauses in employment contracts for physicians (<a href="[@]wsma/about/policies/whats_our_policy/hospitals/non-competition-clauses-in-employment-contracts.aspx">Resolution C-10 from 2024</a>). Accordingly, the WSMA advocated on behalf of House Bill 1155 to broadly prohibit noncompetition agreements in the state. This is another bill that did not pass but will be reintroduced in the 2026 session.</p>
<p>Do you have an idea for a policy that you'd like the WSMA House of Delegates to adopt? Learn more about the process <a href="[@]wsma/events/annual_meeting/how_to_write_a_resolution/wsma/events/annual_meeting/How_to_Write_a_Resolution/how_to_write_a_resolution.aspx?hkey=a22cd977-aaed-4445-9ee2-6fc4716a7136">on the WSMA website</a> or email WSMA's policy department at <a href="mailto:policy@wsma.org">policy@wsma.org.</a>   </p>
</div> | 7/18/2025 12:00:00 AM | 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM |