| keeping-patients central-to-our-care | Keeping Patients Central to Our Care | Latest_News | Shared_Content/News/Latest_News/2025/keeping-patients central-to-our-care | <div class="col-md-12">
<div class="col-sm-5 pull-right" style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/Newsletters/Reports/2025/january-february/cover-wsma-reports-1-janfeb-2025-645x425px.jpg" class="pull-right" alt="January/February 2025 cover of WSMA Reports" /></div>
<h5>Jan. 15, 2025</h5>
<h2>
Keeping Patients Central to Our Care
</h2>
<h5>
<em>Members only; sign-in required.</em>
</h5>
<p>
By Rita Colorito
</p>
<p>
As health care braces for some seismic changes that may or may not come to pass, the WSMA remains steadfast in its mission to improve the lives of its members and the patients they serve. Just as any organization needs new energy to succeed and advance, so, too, does the WSMA.
</p>
<strong>
</strong>
<p>
Seven physicians joined WSMA's board WSMA board of trustees after elections held during the 2024 Annual Meeting of the WSMA House of Delegates last fall. These new board members joined with the understanding that they'll be dedicated to advocating for changes that make a real difference in health care delivery and workforce.
</p>
<p>
In 2025, much of that advocacy will be communicated publicly through a new WSMA campaign called Your Care Is at Our Core Our Core, conducted in partnership with the American Medical Association and informed by enthusiastic input from the WSMA board of trustees. Your Care Is at Our Core seeks to position physicians, through social media, traditional media, public service announcements, and more, as patients' No. 1 advocate. Further, the campaign aims to "seed the ground" for WSMA's policy advocacy through public messaging about our efforts to restore the patient-physician relationship.
</p>
<p>
The three prongs that make up the WSMA Your Care Is at Our Core campaign should be familiar to all WSMA members, as they're very much priorities that the WSMA has been invested in recent years:
</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Access to care: </strong>Passing the 2025 Medicaid Access Program, WSMA's top budget priority.</li>
<li>
<strong>Administrative burden: </strong>Reforming prior authorization, WSMA's top administrative reform priority.
</li>
<li>
<strong>Health care work force: </strong>Supporting physician-led team-based care by ensuring physician expertise is guiding care decisions; by ensuring each clinician is able to work to the top of their respective license; and by guarding against those scope of practice expansions that endanger patient safety.
</li>
</ul>
<p>
Those may be the most publicly visible advocacy efforts in the year ahead, but the WSMA's menu of priorities for the profession is far more encompassing: practice sustainability (Medicare reform, advancing value-based care, primary care reform, influencing cost-of-care debates), workforce sustainability (reducing burnout, cultivating new, and supporting existing, physicians), health equity (reducing health inequities and supporting a more diverse physician workforce), social and technological issues (climate impacts on health, social determinants of health, artificial intelligence), and more. You could say the board of trustees has its work cut out for it.
</p>
<p>
<em>WSMA Reports</em> asked four of our new board members what motivated them to join the board and what they hope to accomplish, and we asked them to share a few words with our readers on what the new Your Care Is at Our Core campaign means to them.
</p>
<h3>
Meet Anukrati Shukla, MD
</h3>
<p>
An internal medicine and obesity medicine physician at Providence Internal Medicine Monroe, Dr. Shukla joined the WSMA in 2021, first contributing through her work with the association's Young Physician Section. She was elected by the 2024 House of Delegates to serve as young physician trustee on the WSMA board. She also recently submitted a letter to the editor, published in The Seattle Times, in support of the Medicaid Access Program.
</p>
<p>
"I saw the kind of work the staff does and what WSMA does, and I wanted to contribute more," she says of joining the board.
</p>
<p>
As an international medical school graduate, Dr. Shukla brings a unique lens to WSMA's advocacy. Her experience managing patients as a physician in India some 10 years ago stands in contrast to the paper work-fueled burnout she and many other physicians face in the U.S. It's why Dr. Shukla welcomes the opportunity to fight against prior authorization requirements.
</p>
<p>
In India, says Dr. Shukla, her patient-physician relationships were "pure connection." "You practice medicine. You make a diagnosis. You give the treatment, and there's no intermediary," she recalls. "And then I came here, and I see the hurdles, the repetitiveness and the redundancy of the work that has nothing to do with the actual medical care ... I was working more hours there, but I was somehow very satisfied. And here those barriers [to care] really, really drain you."
</p>
<p>
Getting to the heart of physician burnout is why Dr. Shukla also champions the WSMA's workforce initiatives. "We have to be innovative in solving workforce challenges. Physicians need to have a voice at the table," she says. "They have the knowledge and expertise to contribute to these solutions. And WSMA is a platform that provides the right voice for the right reasons."
</p>
<p>
As both a foreign-born physician and a woman of color, Dr. Shukla relishes the opportunity to help expand diversity in the workforce. "Diversity is the best thing that can happen to humankind. As a scientist, I see that in the microbiome. As a process improvement person, I see that diversity of thought is so important. You've got to have people with different experiences and different backgrounds to bring something creative [to solutions]," she says.
</p>
<p>
To that end, Dr. Shukla wants all WSMA members to speak up, to be active in some way to help change health care for the better. "If you don't have a seat at the table, then you're on the table," she says. "Whenever I hear somebody being helpless and being frustrated with the state of affairs that are today, I do remind them there is a right place and avenue where their concerns will be better heard."
</p>
<h3>
Meet Trace Julsen, MD
</h3>
<p>
The division chief of primary care at Providence Medical Group Spokane, Dr. Julsen was elected by the 2024 House of Delegates to serve as a trustee. He's been a WSMA member on and off throughout his 15-year career, rejoining last year to get more involved in political advocacy. Dr. Julsen's mentor, a strong supporter of the WSMA, encouraged him to join the board. "I think he saw that I had a lot of interest in doing things that aligned with the WSMA board," he says.
</p>
<p>
The board position also appealed to his current leadership role and long-standing commitment to health care reform. "I'm really passionate about reform and trying to make a change in primary care for our patients and for our care teams," says Dr. Julsen, who hopes to bring his experience as both a clinician and administrator to the board's decision-making.
</p>
<p>
As a primary care physician, Dr. Julsen's focus is on workforce wellness. "I'm worried about not being able to retain physicians or bring in new physicians to primary care. I'm worried about cuts to our training programs throughout Washington," he says. "So, a lot of the advocacy I would like to see or to work on is how we can support bringing in new physicians. How can we effect change so that our physicians don't feel burnt out with the insurance burdens that are placed on us? How can we make our work-life balance better, and at the same time, per the mission and vision and values of WSMA, how can we provide the best care to our patients at the maximum level that we can?"
</p>
<p>
Workforce wellness starts in making the medical profession attractive again. "When I'm recruiting a new grad out of residency, it is very different—the conversations—now than it was 10 years ago, of what they're hoping to have [in terms of work-life balance]," says Dr. Julsen.
</p>
<p>
From his leadership vantage point, Dr. Julsen feels there's less interest among college students today in becoming a physician, in large part because of the current health care system. "It's going to be really important for us to make sure we're bringing strong influence to future doctors, so supporting our medical schools and our residency programs and really trying to engage people," he says.
</p>
<p>
Ensuring a well workforce requires everyone's input. "It's really important for physicians to not just put their head down at work, but to actually speak up, join organizations where they can voice their concerns, their opinions, because that's the only way we're going to truly know what to do and how to fix things. Otherwise, we're just going to continue down the same pathway that we've been on," says Dr. Julsen.
</p>
<h3>
Meet Vivienne Meljen, MD
</h3>
<p>
An OB-GYN with SeaMarCommunity Health Center in Vancouver, Dr. Meljen was elected by the 2024 House of Delegates to serve as an American Medical Association alternate delegate.
</p>
<p>
"As an early career physician, I feel strongly that we need to be engaged in advocacy and in organized medicine. It's the only way to have the young physician voice help shape the system of service in the future," says Dr. Meljen, who graduated residency in 2021. "At the same time, we need to have the institutional knowledge from our more senior clinicians and work together as intergenerational teams to develop innovative solutions to today's challenges."
</p>
<p>
As an OB-GYN, Dr. Meljen is hyper aware of the challenges facing her profession and access to patient care. "It is no surprise to anyone that the world feels like it's a little bit on fire in health care. Right now, we've got physician shortages and physician career longevity decreasing for a lot of reasons. So, I feel like now more than ever, we need physician advocacy so that we can try to make changes in a system that's currently eroding our profession," she says.
</p>
<p>
In her work with the WSMA, Dr. Meljen is also focused on care for the underserved as well as health equity issues in general: She's been supportive of the Medicaid Access Program and the WSMA Foundation's Scholarship and Diversity Advancement Fund.
</p>
<p>
For her board role, Dr. Meljen wants to focus on increasing Medicaid reimbursement. In her work, she takes care of many patients with Medicaid who have difficulty accessing care because of their coverage or lack of meaningful coverage.
</p>
<p>
"A lot of organizations in our country and state are having to make the tough decision to not serve Medicaid patients because of the poor reimbursement," says Dr. Meljen. "Improving that reimbursement will help organizations, clinicians, and patients across the board. Doctors want to take care of these patients, the patients need us, and the system is getting in the way because it's incentivizing practices to see other patients with private insurance or financial means and steering doctors away from taking care of patients with Medicaid."
</p>
<h3>
Meet Stephanie Hansen, DO
</h3>
<p>
An internal medicine physician with the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic, Dr. Hansen is joining the board as a first-time trustee. In another first, this year she celebrates 20 years as a practicing physician. Over the years, she's served in both clinician and leadership roles. As a current physician leader with a federally qualified health center in rural Central Washington, she brings her commitment and compassion to caring for an underserved population.
</p>
<p>
After joining the WSMA three years ago, Dr. Hansen wanted to find away to advocate for the patients and doctors she represents in her community. The Medicaid Access Program is essential to patients in rural communities like hers.
</p>
<p>
In her current and previous roles, Dr. Hansen has also seen firsthand how often prior authorizations can stymie care. "All of the initiatives are important, but my focus is really on prior authorization—how we can make a system that is better for both sides, both the payer side and us as practicing physicians, and improve that system for everyone," says Dr. Hansen.
</p>
<p>
Prior authorization often hits those in her community who can least afford it and doctors already stretched for time caring for them, says Dr. Hansen. "For those with managed Medicaid, many of the things we want to order for them require prior authorization. Having to go through these processes to try to get, whether it's medications covered or things such as imaging studies ... it definitely could be a more efficient process, especially with everything else primary care has to cover," she says.
</p>
<p>
Dr. Hansen encourages WSMA members to add their voice to the fight for a better health care landscape for all. "Everyone's voice matters," she says. And you don't have to serve on the board to help further WSMA's legislative priorities. "A lot of times it feels like there's not enough time, or that maybe someone else will do it instead, causing one not to be involved," says Dr. Hansen. "There are so many ways you can help, whether it's an email, a county society meeting, or by being a mentor to a new physician or colleague. Any of those things can help our profession stabilize, grow, and be ready for the future."
</p>
<p>
<em><strong>Rita Colorito </strong>is a freelance writer specializing in health care.</em>
</p>
<p>
<em>This article was featured in the January/February 2025 issue of WSMA Reports, WSMA's print magazine.</em>
</p>
</div> | 1/15/2025 12:00:00 AM | 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM |
| doctors-making-a-difference-mark-vossler-md | Doctors Making a Difference: Mark Vossler, MD | Latest_News | Shared_Content/News/Latest_News/2025/doctors-making-a-difference-mark-vossler-md | <div class="col-md-12">
<div class="col-sm-5 pull-right" style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/Newsletters/Reports/2025/january-february/dmd-website-image-vossler-645x425px.png" class="pull-right" alt="Doctors Making a Difference: Mark Vossler, MD" /></div>
<h5>Jan. 14, 2025</h5>
<h2>Doctors Making a Difference: Mark Vossler, MD</h2>
<p>
For Mark Vossler, MD, a trip to Japan as a medical student set in motion a decades-long effort to create a healthy population through social change. As a past president and current treasurer of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, and winner of a 2024 Grassroots Advocacy Apple Award from the WSMA, Dr. Vossler is working to make a difference through policies focused on climate change. He talked with <em>WSMA Reports</em> about the upcoming legislative session, what physicians can do to promote climate and economic equity in their practices, and more.
</p>
<h3>
</h3>
<p><em><strong>WSMA Reports:</strong></em><strong> How did you get involved with Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility? </strong></p>
<p>
<em>Dr. Vossler: </em>I had the privilege of doing a research fellowship at the Radiations Effects Foundation in Hiroshima, Japan as a medical student. The science was focused on cell signaling in carcinogenesis in response to radiation, but the experience was much more than that. Being in Hiroshima, studying the impacts of nuclear war, and visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park had a profound impact on me. When I returned to the U.S., I joined Physicians for Social Responsibility to speak out against nuclear weapons and to prevent what we cannot cure.</p>
<p>
<strong>Are there certain advocacy issues that are most important to you personally?</strong> </p>
<p>
Right now, I'm pretty focused on the health impacts of using gas for home heating and cooking. It turns out that there is limited awareness of the scope of the risk, even among physicians. I'm proud of the work that I did along with other concerned health professionals to help get state building codes passed that encouraged a transition off gas and to electric heating and cooking. Unfortunately, those gains are being set back by an initiative that just passed in the November election.</p>
<p>
<strong>Do you think physicians can play a unique role in advocating for policies that address climate change and its effects?</strong> </p>
<p>
Physicians have a unique role to play in advocacy, especially on issues that affect health. We are trusted by both the public and by elected officials. So long as we focus on being credible, truthful, and focused on human impacts, our input is taken very seriously. I feel it is an obligation of the physician to use their privilege to speak up on matters of public health. I am super grateful that the WSMA House of Delegates has passed resolutions calling for a reduction in emissions, acknowledging the health impacts of burning gas in the home, and for reducing climate impacts of the health care sector. This sends a very strong message to our electeds.</p>
<p><strong>What are your advocacy priorities for the upcoming legislative session?</strong> </p>
<p>
We are looking to pass a bill that would help hospitals and surgical centers reduce the greenhouse gas impacts of anesthesia. We have the backing of both the WSMA and the Washington State Society of Anesthesiologists on this. We are also eager to pass the CURB Pollution Act. This would require state agencies to take cumulative community pollution burden into account in the permitting process.</p>
<p>
<strong>Are there any ways that physicians can take action in their daily practice on climate or economic inequity issues?</strong> </p>
<p>We need to be in the habit of understanding our patients' vulnerabilities to social determinants of health. Economic factors are a big deal. Inability to buy healthy foods, fill prescriptions, or afford housing has a tremendous impact on our patients' health. We need to also ask about preparedness for things like extreme heat and wildfire smoke. Making air filtration and cooling available to low-income households in our state will make a big difference on the health impacts of climate change.</p>
<p>
<em>This article was featured in the January/February 2025 issue of WSMA Reports, WSMA's print magazine.</em>
</p>
</div> | 1/14/2025 12:00:00 AM | 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM |
| member-spotlight-sung-won-kim-md | Member Spotlight: Sung-Won Kim, MD | Latest_News | Shared_Content/News/Latest_News/2025/member-spotlight-sung-won-kim-md | <div class="col-md-12">
<div class="col-sm-5 pull-right" style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/Newsletters/Reports/2025/january-february/member-spotlight-website-image-kim-645x425px.png" class="pull-right" alt="Member Spotlight: Sung-Won Kim, MD" /></div>
<h5>Jan. 14, 2025</h5>
<h2> Member Spotlight: Sung-Won Kim, MD </h2>
<p>
<strong>Works at: </strong>ENT Associates, Olympia.</p>
<p><strong>In practice: </strong>13+ years.</p>
<p><strong>Specialty:</strong> Otolaryngology.</p>
<p><strong>Why WSMA:</strong> Three words: Advocacy, advocacy, advocacy. The WSMA works tirelessly to ensure that we have a voice in legislative matters that affect our practice. The WSMA lobbies for fair reimbursement rates and improved working conditions so I can focus on providing patient care. I can sip my tea in peace, secure in the knowledge the WSMA is fighting for our ability to practice medicine without constraints imposed by inadequate funding or bureaucratic burdens.
</p>
<p>
I love that the WSMA is trying to increase Medicaid reimbursement rates to Medicare levels. Every legislative session, the WSMA works to oppose inappropriate scope-of-practice legislation, including expanding prescriptive powers of naturopaths to involve schedule II-IV controlled substances.
</p>
<p>
The WSMA also provides CME accreditation, which my subspecialty organization, Northwest Academy of Otolaryngology, uses for our annual meetings.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Proud moment in medicine:</strong> I love my job and feel proud about the difference we make in our patients' lives and the lives of those who love and care for them. But I also hate my job when I encounter systems that actively or passively restrict my ability to care for our patients. These systems can be modified. The WSMA is the organization to influence policy to protect our patients and our practice.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Top concerns in medicine: </strong> I worry about our ability to provide quality care to everyone when reimbursements are decreasing and the cost of providing high-quality health care is increasing. I am concerned more practices will stop seeing Medicaid patients and, at some point, Medicare patients. Health inequity is already a tremendous problem for vulnerable populations. Cuts to Medicare and the ridiculously low payments for services by Medicaid exacerbate the situation.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Why my specialty: </strong> I wanted to be a primary care physician in medical school. I was super interested in the idea that we can prevent disease and reduce morbidity with chronic care of disease. I started my clerkship rotations with primary care, and I absolutely hated it. It did not suit my personality and temperament. Getting excited about a 0.4 drop in A1C is something I could not muster. I was despondent. I was so confident I would be a primary care physician and now my world was upside down. Worse, my next rotation was in surgery, and surgeons have a bad reputation. But when I started my rotation, I knew I belonged. Not all surgeons deserve that bad reputation. Surgery was for me. In an otolaryngology clerkship in my fourth year of medical school, I realized that was the perfect combination of medical and behavioral management of chronic disease with surgery. Perfect for me.
</p>
<p>
<strong>Spare time: </strong>Spending time with my family. I have two boys, aged 15 and 12. They are fully engaged in sporting activities such that any free minute I have, I spend it with the logistics of sports: lacrosse, sailing, basketball, cross country, etc. Winter weekends are reserved for freezing on top of a mountain at White Pass, fearing for my life as I descend a mountain at unsafe speeds. Skiing: uncomfortable, frightening, and dangerous. But my wife and kids love it. So, I go.
</p>
<p>
<strong>What people might not know about me: </strong> While there are some secrets that must not be shared, one of mine is that if you recognize me in public and start to talk to me, I will probably not remember who you are, but I will pretend I do. </p>
<p>
<em>This article was featured in the January/February 2025 issue of WSMA Reports, WSMA's print magazine.</em>
</p>
</div> | 1/14/2025 12:00:00 AM | 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM |