| ceo-rounds-nov-22-2024-keeping-a-watchful-eye-on-both-washingtons | CEO Rounds: Nov. 22, 2024 - Keeping A Watchful Eye on Both Washingtons | Leadership | Shared_Content/News/ceo-rounds/2024/ceo-rounds-nov-22-2024-keeping-a-watchful-eye-on-both-washingtons | <div class="col-md-12">
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<h5>November 22, 2024</h5>
<h2>Keeping A Watchful Eye on Both Washingtons</h2>
<p>Jennifer Hanscom, CEO</p>
<p>As your state medical association, the WSMA's primary focus is, necessarily, on our state-we keep a close eye on what's happening in Olympia and the decisions made at state agencies, in the Legislature, or by the governor, and how those actions may affect our members and their patients.</p>
<p>At the same time, we can't-and don't-ignore what is happening in the other Washington.</p>
<p>As last week's Advocacy Report newsletter highlighted, there are three bills before Congress, one each on Medicare payment, prior authorization, and telehealth, that are crucial to your work. We urge all members and their teams to make their voices heard on these proposals. Take a moment and reach out to your congressional representatives and Washington's two senators to push for passage of these bills before <a href="https://wsma.org/Shared_Content/News/Latest_News/2024/urgent-action-needed-on-bills-to-preserve-medicare-patients-access-to-care.aspx?_zs=B3aFd1&amp;_zl=N0Ew9">Congress adjourns for the year</a>.</p>
<p>Additionally, we have heard from many of you with concerns regarding proposed cabinet appointments as the incoming Trump administration begins to take shape. These appointments include leadership roles overseeing Medicare, Medicaid, public health, and regulatory decisions, and have far-reaching implications for physicians and patients alike.</p>
<p>Understanding the process of Senate confirmation and recess appointments is essential to advocate for leaders who prioritize patient care and the stability of our health care system.</p>
<p>Here's a quick summary of the process: Under the U.S. Constitution, many high-ranking federal positions require Senate confirmation. The process is designed to ensure that appointees are qualified and reflect the nation's interests.</p>
<p>How it works:</p>
<ul>
<li>Nomination: The president nominates an individual for a role.</li>
<li>Committee hearings: Senate committees hold hearings to evaluate the nominee's qualifications, vision, and potential conflicts of interest.</li>
<li>Full Senate vote: After the hearings, the nominee goes to the full Senate for a vote. A simple majority is needed for confirmation.</li>
</ul>
<p>This process enables the Senate to vet appointees thoroughly, ensuring accountability and transparency.</p>
<p>There has been coverage in the media about possible recess appointments. When the Senate is not in session, the president can make recess appointments to fill vacancies temporarily. That process is outlined in Article II, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution.</p>
<p>How it works:</p>
<ul>
<li>Appointment: During a Senate recess, the president appoints someone to a vacant position without waiting for Senate approval.</li>
<li>Duration: The appointee serves until the end of the Senate's next session. If not confirmed by the Senate before this deadline, the position becomes vacant again.</li>
<li>Controversy: Recess appointments can bypass Senate oversight temporarily, leading to tension between the executive and legislative branches.</li>
</ul>
<p>What lies ahead is anyone's guess, but the WSMA will monitor appointments and engage with Washington's senators to advocate for health care leaders who prioritize patient care and support the medical community. Physicians can amplify these efforts by staying informed, contacting your senators directly, and collaborating with professional organizations to ensure your voice is heard. As a constituent, you too can add your voice by contacting Sen. Patty Murray and Sen. Maria Cantwell.</p>
<h3>2025 Legislative Summit: Doctors' Day on the Hill</h3>
<p>Closer to home, we encourage you to don your white coats and join your colleagues in Olympia on Jan. 22 for WSMA's yearly Legislative Summit. We will be joined by newly elected Insurance Commissioner Patty Kuderer. While the WSMA typically engages on hundreds of bills during the legislative session, we anticipate that for the Summit we'll focus on:</p>
<ul>
<li>Securing across-the-board Medicaid rate increases.</li>
<li>Defending against inappropriate scope of practice expansions.</li>
<li>Supporting our health care workforce by increasing education and training investments and promoting retention of existing workforce.</li>
<li>Opposing tax increases on the physician community and other proposals that adversely impact the viability of physician practices.</li>
<li>Issues related to public health.</li>
</ul>
<p>Be sure to <a href="[@]wsma/events/legislative_summit/wsma/events/wsma_legislative_summit/legislative_summit.aspx?hkey=795731a5-79ba-45b0-b78b-b9dfbfc336e5&amp;_zs=B3aFd1&amp;_zl=O0Ew9">register today for this event</a>, which is free for members. You can read more about <a href="[@]wsma/advocacy/advocacy-topics/wsma/advocacy/advocacy-topics/advocacy-topics.aspx?hkey=962a716c-d454-4e58-a72a-5931ef47cd68&amp;_zs=B3aFd1&amp;_zl=P0Ew9">WSMA advocacy issues on our website</a>.</p>
<p>And as Thanksgiving draws near, I'll close with words of gratitude. Your involvement and engagement with the WSMA make a real difference-for the profession, for your patients, and for your colleagues. With new leadership in Olympia and Washington, D.C., we look forward to working together to keep the physician voice front and center.</p>
<p>We are stronger and better because of you.</p>
<p>Here's wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!</p>
</div> | 11/22/2024 12:00:00 AM | 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM |
| carrie-horwitch-md-on-how-mastering-emotional-intelligence-can-benefit-all-clinicians | Carrie Horwitch, MD, on How Mastering Emotional Intelligence Can Benefit All Clinicians | Leadership | Shared_Content/News/Membership_Memo/2024/november-8/carrie-horwitch-md-on-how-mastering-emotional-intelligence-can-benefit-all-clinicians | <div class="col-md-12">
<div class="col-sm-5 pull-right" style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/Newsletters/MembershipMemo/2024/november/carrie-horwitch-eqi-course-video-still-no-button.png" class="pull-right" alt="Carrie Horwitch, MD" /></div>
<h5>Nov. 8, 2024</h5>
<h2>Carrie Horwitch, MD, on How Mastering Emotional Intelligence Can Benefit All Clinicians</h2>
<p>As WSMA Foundation Vice President Carrie Horwitch, MD, explains in <a href="[@]wsma/foundation/physician-and-practitioner-wellness/transcending-clinical-excellence-mastering-emotional-intelligence.aspx?_zs=A3aFd1&amp;_zl=4tDr9">this brief video</a>, all clinicians, regardless of leadership experience or roles, can benefit from mastering emotional intelligence. Whether you're seeking to enhance your leadership abilities, strengthen your clinical relationships, or simply enrich your personal life, mastering the ability to recognize and regulate your own emotions while honing your empathy to better comprehend the feelings of others is key-and a new course from the WSMA Foundation is here to help.</p>
<p>Enroll in <a href="https://wsma.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0xMTcyMzI2MSZwPTEmdT0xMDc4MTA4MzYwJmxpPTExMTg0NTk4Ng/index.html">Transcending Clinical Excellence: Mastering Emotional Intelligence</a> and get ready to embark on a transformative journey of self-discovery and interpersonal growth. The course, held virtually on Fridays from Jan. 31-March 28, 2025, is longitudinal (your progress will be measured over time), and multimodal (the course features different methods of learning), allowing learners to have multiple touchpoints on different aspects of emotional intelligence, allowing for deep understanding and opportunities to apply skills in practice. The program is available to physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and all other clinicians looking to increase their emotional intelligence, foster more meaningful connections, and resolve conflicts in the workplace empathetically.</p>
<p>Learn more about this course and register on the <a href="https://wsma.informz.net/z/cjUucD9taT0xMTcyMzI2MSZwPTEmdT0xMDc4MTA4MzYwJmxpPTExMTg0NTk4Ng/index.html">WSMA website</a>. This activity has been approved for <em>AMA PRA Category 1 Credit</em><sup>TM</sup>.</p>
</div> | 11/8/2024 12:00:00 AM | 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM |
| new-wsma-foundation-report-outlines-wellness-criteria-for-health-care-employers | New WSMA Foundation Report Outlines Wellness Criteria for Health Care Employers | Leadership | Shared_Content/News/Membership_Memo/2024/november-8/new-wsma-foundation-report-outlines-wellness-criteria-for-health-care-employers | <div class="col-md-12">
<div class="col-sm-5 pull-right" style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/Newsletters/MembershipMemo/2024/november/thriving-in-medicine-report-cover-645x425px.png" class="pull-right" alt="Thriving in Medicine report cover" /></div>
<h5>Nov. 8, 2024</h5>
<h2>New WSMA Foundation Report Outlines Wellness Criteria for Health Care Employers</h2>
<p>With increasing attention being placed on systemic, organizational issues driving physician and practitioner burnout, the WSMA Foundation convened a committee in 2023 to research and publish criteria for health care employers to utilize in support of well-being in the workplace. This summer, the Foundation's Wellness Action Committee concluded its work and has published its findings and resulting criteria in a new report, Thriving in Medicine: Cultivating Choice, Competence, and Community, which is now available to WSMA members and to anyone in health care wishing to implement change within their organization.</p>
<h3>A wellness playbook</h3>
<p>Thriving in Medicine: Cultivating Choice, Competence, and Community is a playbook for organizations to start, or to reevaluate and renew, processes to allow physicians and practitioners to thrive.</p>
<p>Using self-determination theory as the psychological framework for addressing workplace wellness, the report provides evidence-based examples of what works for developing leadership support, empowering choices, providing skill enhancement, and fostering community. The report also contains a list of resources with point people to connect with to help members get started in that work.</p>
<p>Download <a href="javascript://[Uploaded files/News and Publications/newsletters/2024/wsma-thriving-in-medicine-report.pdf]">Thriving in Medicine: Cultivating Choice, Competence, and Community</a>.</p>
<h3>Dedicated resources needed</h3>
<p>The report makes clear that workplace wellness also takes dedicated resources and support. Wellness programs that are supported with time and financial support are viewed most positively by employees, have better outcomes, and foster a greater sense that leadership supports joy in medicine.</p>
<p>The WSMA Foundation Wellness Action Committee encourages all physicians, physician assistants, and advanced practitioners to read the report and use it as a resource, regardless of their leadership position. Physicians not in leadership roles can introduce the report to their leadership team.</p>
<p>The Wellness Action Committee presented the report to health care CEOs and CMOs at an October meeting hosted by the WSMA and will reconvene with these leaders regularly to follow up on progress.</p>
<p>For more on the wellness report, including perspectives from two lead participants in its development-Dr. Alka Atal-Barrio and Dr. Chris Bundy-see the November/December of <em>WSMA Reports</em> ("Choice Competence, and Community," pp. 14-15), mailed to members and available <a href="[@]wsma/about_us/wsma-reports/wsma-reports-archive/wsma/about/wsma-reports/wsma-reports-archive.aspx?hkey=ecc0cfb2-b1fe-4e76-b1fa-b0354d3d558e">on our website</a>.</p>
</div> | 11/8/2024 12:00:00 AM | 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM |