Representing you: Keeping your voice front and center in the media and with influencers.

• 10 Principles for Health Care Reform developed and shared with members of Congress and others as federal attempts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act got underway.
• 5 press statements and 1 op-ed published in response to efforts to repeal and replace the ACA.
• 4 op-eds published, covering rising drug costs; professionalism in medicine; mergers and access to care; and physician leadership.
• 34 news stories published spotlighting the WSMA and the physician voice.

Preparing you: Helping you transition to value-based care.

• 10 presentations given.
• Partnered with Qualis Health and other stakeholders to provide guidance on the transition to MACRA’s payment pathways.

Supporting you: Providing service and value.

• 100 charts analyzed to ensure coding accuracy ($6,000 value).
• 230 coding and general inquiries ($8,000 value).
• 100+ hours of education provided ($20,000 value).
• 660 hours of legal support ($231,000 value).
• 100+ members completed WSMA’s 40-hour Physician Leadership Course ($280,000 value).

• 91% success rate for WSMA’s legislative advocacy.
• 213 bills and budget items tracked during state legislative session.
• 90+ members attended the WSMA Legislative Summit.
• 97% of candidates supported by WAMPAC (WSMA’s nonpartisan campaign arm) won their campaigns for terms starting in January 2017.
• 15+ official comments submitted on state and federal rulemaking.
• 2 amicus (“friend of the court”) briefs filed.
• 20 requests for assistance with insurance claims processed, returning over $80,000 to those practices.

WSMA Advocacy Successfully:

• Directed the prescription monitoring program to create an overdose feedback system and provide data to clinicians to support appropriate opiate prescribing.
• Clarified that telemedicine services qualify for reimbursement no matter where the patient is located.
• Authorized Washington to join the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, enabling expedited multi-state licensing.
• Streamlined prior authorization of medical services, establishing uniform timeframes and more.
• Reduced the impact of suicide prevention CME requirement, allowing exceptions for physicians who have no, or limited, patient contact.
• Protected the established burden of proof in medical malpractice cases (Dunnington v. VMMC, the Washington Supreme Court).
• Maintained that only physicians may testify about a standard of care in a medical negligence lawsuit (Frausto v. Yakima HMA LLC, the Washington Supreme Court).
• Protected the physician community’s interests during the state’s implementation of the Clinical Data Repository.

WSMA Advocacy Prevented:

• A prohibition of balance billing.
• A 20% business and occupation (B&O) tax increase impacting physician services.
• Legislation limiting opioid pill counts (placing a standard of care into state statute).
• Mandated annual CME on opioid prescribing.
• Required prior authorization on all narcotic prescriptions in new Medicaid opioid prescribing policy.
• A scope of practice expansion for naturopaths.

WSMA ADVOCACY SECURED:

• $1.39 million for enhancements to the prescription monitoring program.
• $1.2 million for the University of Washington TelePain program.
• $12 million to support the state’s public health system.
• $140,000 to study the effects of the Washington Supreme Court’s Volk v. DeMeerleer decision.
• $100 million to invest in the state’s mental/behavioral health infrastructure.
• $4.7 million for student loan repayment for health professionals.

WSMA-WSHA Joint Opioid Safe Practices Task Force: Providing clinician-driven solutions to help end the opioid epidemic.

• Supported clinicians’ ability to identify and help prevent drug abuse and overdose by leveraging data in the prescription monitoring program.
• Secured funding for UW TelePain program and UW Pain & Opioid Hotline.
• Negotiated an exemption in new Medicaid opioid prescribing policy allowing physicians to exercise clinical judgement and avoid unnecessary paperwork.

Healthy Doctors, Healthier Patients: Reducing administrative red tape and increasing physician satisfaction.

• Streamlined prior authorization of medical services.
• Expedited multi-state licensing.
• Reduced paperwork for DSHS behavioral health services.

Choosing Wisely®: Opening conversations with patients and clinicians about appropriate care.

• Introduced clinical toolkit for primary, specialty and urgent care settings and school-based clinics.
• Shared learnings and resources through April webinar and October summit.

Honoring Choices® Pacific Northwest: Leading the region on advance care planning conversations.

• 47 teams from 26 health care organizations conducted nearly 1,000 ACP conversations to date, with health care agents present at 46% of those conversations (gold standard). 35% of participants returned a completed advance directive, a 46% increase over the state baseline of 24%.
• $5+ million raised of an $8 million fundraising goal.