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Summary of WSMA HOD Meeting(Held this past weekend)
This weekend your KCMS Delegate Council virtually attended the WSMA House of Delegates (HOD). We wanted to share the results of the weekend events.
1. WSMA Bylaw Changes - WSMA had proposed a change of their bylaws that would reduce the number of Delegate votes for county societies by 50%. This bylaw change was voted down. KCMS collaborated with other concerned county medical societies to have our unique, collective, county voices heard.
2. KCMS Delegates presented their own resolutions. All passed, and are available by clicking the button below.
3. THANK YOU to our 54 KCMS Delegates that attended. We are grateful for their commitment to helping KCMS be a powerful voice and political advocate for physicians at the local, state, and federal levels.
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KCMS Welcomes a New WSMA PresidentMika Sinanan, MD, Ph.D., a longtime KCMS member, was named president of WSMA at its annual HOD.
Dr. Sinanan is a general surgeon at the UW - Montlake, the medical director for contracting and value-based specialty care at UW Medical Center, and a UW professor of surgery. KCMS looks forward to working with Dr. Sinanan to empower physicians and improve healthcare in our communities.
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Congratulations!
WSMA recognized several King County physicians & colleagues during their Apple Awards program.
Amish Dave, MD, KCMS Board member and Chairperson of the KCMS Public Health Committee, is a rheumatologist with Virginia Mason Medical Center. Dr. Dave received the WSMA Early Career Member of the Year Award. We applaud Dr. Dave for his tireless commitment to public health, health equity, and access to care for all.
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Chris Bundy, MD, KCMS member and the executive medical director of the Washington Physicians Health Program, received the WSMA President’s Unsung Hero Award which recognizes the WSMA member who offers extraordinary service to the profession. Dr. Bundy is the president of the Federation of State Physician Health Programs. Congratulations.
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Yuan-Po Tu, MD, an internist at The Everett Clinic, received the WSMA Community Advocate Award. KCMS was privileged to work directly with Dr. Tu, and Public Health Seattle King County for months, to help distribute the Covid-19 vaccines to healthcare professionals in the 1a and 1b categories throughout the state. Thank you, Dr. Tu. It has been a pleasure working with you.
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The WSMA House of Delegates Experience
By: Susan J. Baumgaertel, MD FACP of www.MenopauseMenu.com, KCMS member since 1996, WSMA member since 1993.
Many may not know the number of hours it takes to get one WSMA Resolution together, let alone two. The KCMS staff are indispensable to this process that takes many months, but it also requires persistence on the part of the physician bringing forth the Resolution(s).
There are many meetings, online and offline discussions, research, input from fellow delegates and executive leaders, not to mention expansive KCMS staff and lobbyist input as well. This process all culminates in a two-day marathon requiring the mastering of Zoom meetings from different sources and the WSMA legislative online platform to accommodate the virtual sessions.
End result? Amazing success by all who participated! I am amazed at how the KCMS & WSMA staff and leadership pulled it off with wit, humor, grace, and poise, no less!
Words matter. Resolutions matter. Some are just stepping stones, but many have grit and power that will serve all of us well. This was a legislative session to celebrate!
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KCMS Support for Vaccine Verification
As a leader in healthcare in King County, KCMS supports requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccine or negative test for large sporting and entertainment events and establishments. KCMS welcomed the opportunity to sign on to support vaccine verification. Read the full statement signed by many leaders in WA state by clicking below.
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| Members on the MoveWELCOME, WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST KCMS MEMBERS
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Benjamin Meyer, MD
Dr. Meyer is a current fellow physician in abdominal imaging at the University of Washington. Previously, Dr. Meyer was chief resident at the Medical College of Wisconsin Diagnostic Radiology program in Milwaukee, WI. Dr. Meyer grew up in South Dakota and attended medical school at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine.
Dr. Meyers was a first-time KCMS delegate and jumped in to serve on a WSMA Reference Committee and helped evaluate the strength and evidence of submitted resolutions and shared recommendations.
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Mollie Nisen, MDMollie grew up between Dallas, Chicago, and Philadelphia; eventually making her way to Oberlin College in Ohio and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. She brings humor and a deep sense of justice into not only her patient encounters but also her community organizing.
Dr. Nisen is a current fellow with the Swedish Addiction Medicine program. She maintains a full-spectrum primary care practice with a particular interest in primary and obstetrical care for medically complex patients with substance use disorder and the intersection of reproductive justice and harm reduction in addiction medicine.
Dr. Nisen is a first-time KCMS delegate and brought her many advocacy interests to our KCMS Delegation. In her copious free time, Mollie enjoys cooking for large groups of people, sewing, and geeking out about revolutionary healthcare systems design.
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Matthew Logalbo, MDDr. Logalbo grew up outside Boston and attended Amherst College and then UMass Medical School. He moved to Seattle for residency in 2006 at Swedish Family Medicine - First Hill and hasn't been able to tear himself away from the mountains of the PNW since.
After completing residency, he spent about 5 years doing locums tenens work, ranging from Seattle area FQHCs to Bethel, Alaska, with a stint on the residency faculty mixed in. In 2014 he joined Country Doctor Community Clinic, and since 2018 he has been Medical Director for Carolyn Downs and Country Doctor Community Health Centers.
Outside of work, he enjoys anything that gets him into the mountains: hiking, skiing, backpacking, etc. He and his wife live in Seattle and are happily expecting their first child.
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Covid-19 & Medical Misinformation Doctors who spread misinformation about COVID-19 in WA state could face disciplinary measures by the WMC.
From the DRAFT Agenda of the September WMC Meeting"The Washington Medical Commission’s (WMC) position on COVID-19 prevention and treatment is that COVID-19 is a disease process like other disease processes, and as such, treatment and advice provided by physicians and PA's will be assessed in the same manner as any other disease process.
Treatments and recommendations regarding this disease that fall below the standard of care as established by medical experts, federal authorities, and legitimate medical research are potentially subject to disciplinary action. The WMC supports the position taken by the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) regarding COVID-19 vaccine misinformation. The WMC does not limit this perspective to vaccines but broadly applies this standard to all misinformation regarding COVID-19 treatments and preventive measures such as masking. Physicians and PAs, who generate and spread COVID-19 misinformation, or disinformation, erode the public trust in the medical profession and endanger patients."
The full DRAFT statement from WMC is provided below.
The public and physicians can use the WMC complaint forms when they believe the standard of care has been breached. Direct commentary re: the new actions to the WMC.
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SHARING WITH YOU A FREE VIRTUAL CME
Immune-Related Adverse EventsPANELS EXPLORING THE SIDE EFFECTS OF IMMUNOTHERAPY Related treatment and research updates, and discuss clinical challenges. Starting with a didactic session, & leaving ~ 45 minutes for case Q&A
Panel 3: October 9th, 2021 (9:00-10:30am PDT) “Rheumatologic irAEs”
Featured panelist: Maria E. Suarez-Almazor, MD, PhD
Questions? Contact Cody Fredrick cfredrick@seattlecca.org
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