| wsma-legislative-priorities-advancing-as-session-winds-down | WSMA Legislative Priorities Advancing as Session Winds Down | Latest_News | Shared_Content/News/advocacy-report/2026/March 6/wsma-legislative-priorities-advancing-as-session-winds-down | <div class="col-md-12">
<div class="col-sm-5 pull-right" style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/Newsletters/advocacy-report/2026/february/2026-Leg-Session-Graphic.png" class="pull-right" alt="WSMA 2026 Legislative Session Updates" /></div>
<h5>Mar. 6, 2026</h5>
<h2>WSMA Legislative Priorities Advancing as Session Winds Down</h2>
<p>The 2026 legislative session is scheduled to adjourn next Thursday, March 12, and the final days of session will be dominated by budget negotiations and deliberations over whether to establish a state income tax. If you missed last week's update on legislative budget proposals, you can read it <a href="https://wsma.org/Shared_Content/News/ceo-rounds/2026/ceo-rounds-feb-24-2026-legislative-budget-proposals-released-what-they-mean-for-health-care">here</a>. Meanwhile, in addition to House Bill 2242, which will preserve access to preventive care and vaccines in our state, the WSMA has been successful in advancing—and defeating—a number of key legislative priorities this year.</p>
<p>Over the last week, votes have been taken in House and Senate committees to approve insurance reforms related to prior authorization (<a href="https://app.leg.wa.gov/BillSummary/?BillNumber=5395&amp;Chamber=Senate&amp;Year=2025">SB 5395</a>) and prompt payment and insurance carrier claw backs (<a href="https://app.leg.wa.gov/BillSummary/?BillNumber=5845&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=false">SB 5845</a>). Legislation to extend the statutory deadlines of the Medicaid Access Program (<a href="https://app.leg.wa.gov/BillSummary/?BillNumber=2385&amp;Year=2025&amp;Initiative=false">HB 2385</a>) is also advancing.</p>
<p>Defending against bills we oppose is just as important as advancing bills in Olympia, and as of this writing all scope of practice bills the WSMA opposes are considered "dead" for the 2026 session. A Senate proposal to expand scope of practice for pharmacists did get serious consideration this year, and the WSMA will be working with proponents of the bill over the legislative interim to try to work toward an appropriate compromise on the issue. The prime sponsors of the legislation in both the House and the Senate are pharmacists and have signaled their intention to have a bill approved in the 2027 session.</p>
</div> | 3/27/2026 10:47:40 AM | 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM |
| ceo-rounds-mar-27-2026-legal-victory-strengthens-critical-safeguard-for-physician-practice | CEO Rounds: Mar. 27, 2026 - Legal Victory Strengthens Critical Safeguard for Physician Practice | Latest_News | Shared_Content/News/ceo-rounds/2026/ceo-rounds-mar-27-2026-legal-victory-strengthens-critical-safeguard-for-physician-practice | <div class="col-md-12">
<div class="col-sm-5 pull-right" style="text-align: center;">
<img src="https://wsma.org/images/Newsletters/ceo-rounds/ceo-rounds-article-graphic-2025-1290x850px.png" class="pull-right" alt="CEO Rounds with Jennifer Hanscom, WSMA CEO graphic" />
</div>
<h5>
Mar. 27, 2026
</h5>
<h2>
Legal Victory Strengthens Critical Safeguard for Physician Practice
</h2>
<p>
Jennifer Hanscom, WSMA CEO
</p>
<p>
Physicians often recognize the WSMA for its advocacy in Olympia. That work is essential, but it’s only part of the story. The WSMA advocates for physicians wherever decisions affecting the practice of medicine are made: with our congressional delegation, in the regulatory arena, with insurers, in the media, and before the courts.
</p>
<p>
It’s this last area—legal advocacy—that often goes undetected. Court cases can stretch on for years and their outcomes are rarely suited to easy summaries. Yet, this work is critically important, particularly in a state environment where our state’s legislative leadership has historically shown little support for tort reform.
</p>
<p>
Much of WSMA’s legal advocacy occurs through "friend of the court," or amicus curiae briefs. These briefs present a physician-centric perspective in cases that can shape the legal framework that governs medical practice. Often these briefs are aimed at preserving the limited but important protections physicians have under state statues and case law.
</p>
<p>
That work paid off again last week.
</p>
<p>
The Washington State Supreme Court affirmed a key jury instruction known as the “exercise of judgment†standard. This instruction reminds juries of a fundamental reality: medicine is not an exact science. It states that the physician is not liable for choosing among reasonable alternatives, provided that decision was made with appropriate care and skill within the standard of care.
</p>
<p>
This protection has been challenged before. In Fergen v. Sestero (2015), dissenting justices argued the instruction was "slanted." However, with support from the WSMA and partners, the court upheld it, and that reasoning later contributed to a unanimous decision in Paetsch v. Spokane Dermatology Clinic, PS.
</p>
<p>
More recently in Beard v. Everett Clinic, the issue resurfaced. The question before the court was whether the instruction requires only that a physician's decision fall within the standard of care, or whether the physician's decision-making process must also independently meet that standard.
</p>
<p>
Recognizing the stakes, the WSMA filed an amicus brief, joined by the AMA Litigation Center, the Washington State Hospital Association, the Washington Academy of Family Physicians, and the Washington Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, with support from Physicians Insurance.
</p>
<p>
In a victory for the profession, this month the Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's decision and upheld the use of the instruction, once again rejecting efforts to narrow or eliminate it. <strong>This outcome reinforces a critical safeguard for physicians: that reasonable clinical judgment, exercised within the standard of care, remains protected.</strong>
</p>
<p>
Behind the scenes, this work requires significant time, expertise, and collaboration. The WSMA relies on specialized outside counsel and strong partnerships to ensure the physician voice is effectively represented in the courts.
</p>
<p>
The WSMA is grateful to our legal team and the lawyers who brought this case to our attention, as well as our partners in the brief. We are equally grateful for our partnership and support from the AMA Litigation Center, the Washington State Hospital Association, Physicians Insurance, and, in this case, the Washington Academy of Family Physicians and the Washington Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians. The engagement and support from these groups increased the impact of the amicus argument.
</p>
<p>
To learn more about how the WSMA decides to engage in amicus briefs or legal actions, visit the <a href="https://www.wsma.org/wsma/advocacy/legal/wsma/advocacy/legal/legal.aspx">Legal page</a> in the advocacy section of our website.
</p>
</div> | 3/27/2026 12:00:00 AM | 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM |
| the-wsma-celebrates-match-day-the-best-is-yet-to-come | The WSMA Celebrates Match Day! The Best Is Yet to Come | Latest_News | Shared_Content/News/Latest_News/2026/the-wsma-celebrates-match-day-the-best-is-yet-to-come | <div class="col-md-12">
<div class="col-sm-5 pull-right" style="text-align: center;"><img alt="WSMA celebrates 2026 Match Day" src="/images/Newsletters/latest-news/2026/march/match-day-2026-1200x628px.png" class="pull-right" /></div>
<h5>Mar. 19, 2026</h5>
<h2>The WSMA Celebrates Match Day! The Best Is Yet to Come</h2>
<p>By Graham Short</p>
<p>
Friday, March 20 is Match Day! On Match Day, we celebrate the next step in a medical student's training to become a trusted healer and advocate for their patients. This day reminds us that working with patients is the reason physicians become physicians: to heal and save lives, a core theme of our <a href="[@]wsma/advocacy/your-care-is-at-our-core.aspx">Your Care Is at Our Core campaign</a> to restore the trust at the heart of the patient-physician relationship.
</p>
<p>
Celebrating Match Day at the WSMA is also celebrating two key demographics in our membership: our medical student members and our resident physician members. On Match Day, medical students learn which residency program they will join, marking the transition from student to physician-in-training. Students and physicians-in-training are intimately involved at the WSMA, informing policymaking (all members have a voice through our <a href="[@]wsma/events/annual_meeting/virtual-reference-committees.aspx">reference committees</a>), serving on our <a href="[@]wsma/about/who_we_are/board-of-trustees.aspx">board of trustees</a> and <a href="[@]wsma/about/who_we_are/house-of-delegates.aspx">House of Delegates</a> as a trustee, delegate, or alternate delegate, and informing the WSMA on its resources for students and residents through the <a href="[@]wsma/about/who_we_are/early-career-sections.aspx">WSMA Early Career Sections</a>. As a sign of our commitment to supporting students and residents on their journeys to becoming physicians, membership in the WSMA is <a href="[@]wsma/membership/join_renew/dues_categories.aspx">free</a>.</p>
<p>
Match Day is a reminder that medical students are a crucial part of not just the WSMA but of the health care ecosystem. They're tomorrow's physicians but today's eager learners and explorers—as such, they inform and teach the older generations of physicians, creating a two-way street of inspiration, information, and integration, making a stronger, united health care workforce.
</p>
<h3>Match Day memories</h3>
<p>
For this year's Match Day, the WSMA turned to its executive physician leadership—once and always former students themselves—to jog their memories of Match Days gone past. In them are lessons and insights for today's new cadre of physicians-in-training. Enjoy these memories and have a happy Match Day!
</p>
<p>
<strong>Bridget Bush, MD, WSMA president:</strong>
</p>
<p>
"I did the military match in December, so I already knew where I was going for the March Match Day. That being said, it was the first time since Katrina I got to see my classmates as we gathered in Houston. In fact, it and Graduation Day in May were the last days I saw most of them including my dear friend Adam who we lost to suicide in 2021. I have my 20th medical school reunion this April and it seems crazy to have been so long from that [Match] day!
</p>
<p>
"I loved seeing my classmate's faces as they opened their envelopes. The sense of pride at how awesomely we had all done (I was continuously impressed by the quality of doctors my classmates were becoming). I felt grateful to be a part of the class and the community, even though touched with a tinge of envy as I was only matched to an internship in the Navy (you must apply again for residencies during your internship in that branch).
</p>
<p>
"Some of it was bittersweet as I knew this was a milestone on our paths forward signifying that our medical school journey was nearly complete. I felt more acutely the loss of the time in New Orleans because of having to leave with Katrina. Fourth year was supposed to be the year I explored the city more, enjoyed more of its offerings in music and culture and food. Maybe that explains why I feel I have to go back there every few years."
</p>
<p>
<strong>John Bramhall, MD, PhD, WSMA immediate past president:</strong>
</p>
<p>
"Medical school is a bit of a tasting menu where you have the opportunity to watch what happens in a variety of clinical settings and then absorb your feelings. Probably because of my experience of working in big technical research labs embedded in large academic systems, I found a natural affinity for the operating room—filled with equipment and very team-based—gravitating to anesthesiology as likely to be an enjoyable career choice.
</p>
<p>
"I was attracted to the way in which clinical anesthesiology practice had been refined and taught at Virginia Mason and so I applied for residency in Seattle. At that time, Virginia Mason was a center of excellence in regional anesthesia, and the training was almost exclusively based on physical anatomy. The attendings were enthusiastic, the little hospital was cheerful, and the teaching ur-text was by Andreas Vesalius! I thought it was all rather esoteric, and I was delighted when they accepted me into their program.
</p>
<p>
"I recall being very happy to have got into my chosen program, but I do think it was useful for me to be more than a little open, emotionally, to the possibility of only getting into one of my lower-ranked locations. I do, also, remember that my faculty advisor at UCSD was vaguely disappointed that I had chosen anesthesiology over 'real medicine' that he thought I would be 'good at,' so having to turn to an alternative cognitive specialty would have at least made him happy, and I liked him, so possibly I would have been happy too!</p>
<p>"I have no advice, other than the obvious—don't apply for anything that you predict will make you miserable!"
</p>
<p>
<strong>Bindu Nayak, MD, WSMA vice president:</strong>
</p>
<p>
"When your whole life seems to be building up to this moment that will decide the next step in your journey, emotions are high as you anticipate receiving that news that will change everything. This pivotal moment is something I hope you will treasure and look back on with joy. Whatever path you land on will take you to amazing places, life experiences and the reality of finally making it to your goal of being a physician. Enjoy every minute and know that wherever you go, you will do amazing things.
</p>
<p>
"Growing up in Louisiana, I put all my hopes and dreams into matching in internal medicine in Washington D.C. to follow my heart and my dreams. My fiancé (now husband) had already been in residency there for two years. Match day would determine if we would actually live in the same place. I loved D.C. and when I received the news that I did get my top choice, Georgetown University Medical Center, for my residency, I was overjoyed and it felt like so much more than just a residency falling into place. It felt like the first day of my dreams coming true."
</p>
<p>
<strong>John Scott, MD, WSMA secretary-treasurer:</strong>
</p>
<p>
"My advice to students is: be open and be present. There is this uncertainty that it's a little maddening, and even if you don't get top choices, there are so many excellent programs. I have friends who had an unexpected match day that in the long run worked out very well for them. Be there for your friends and classmates and their range of emotions that they will be feeling. Oh, and enjoy the last few months of 4th year because you’re going to work harder than you ever have for the next 3-7 years. Good luck!
</p>
<p>
"I matched into internal medicine at Stanford back in 1998. I was very happy because it was my #1 choice and I would be going back to where I grew up. I did the couple's match with my wife so we had applied to 20 different places all over the country, and we really had no idea where we were going to end up. She matched into the primary care pediatrics program at University of California, San Francisco, and made some amazing friends and got excellent training. I remember feeling relief that we were going to be in same city, and I was blown away by my classmates and the amazing places they were going to. And also, a little bit sad because I probably wouldn’t see some of these folks again or at least for many years."
</p>
<p>
Happy Match Day, graduates!
</p>
<p><em>Graham Short is WSMA's director of communications.</em></p>
</div> | 3/19/2026 12:00:00 AM | 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM |