Connecting care, providers, and community
University of Washington Physicians
Last week I attended the University of Washington Physicians (UWP) annual meeting on the South Lake Union campus. UWP is the independent non-profit faculty practice plan for the University of Washington School of Medicine. It represents over 3,000 healthcare providers and faculty members who deliver patient care, conduct medical research, and train future health professionals across the UW Medicine system.
They highlighted the Practice Advisor team, which bridges initiatives with frontline care teams, and the External eConsults Program, launched last month, which improves rural access to specialty expertise and reduces patient travel, time, and expense.
Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles is the initial community partner for specialty care in Dermatology, Infectious Disease, and Neurology. After the pilot phase, the program will serve rural clinicians statewide with additional specialties.
Two innovative pilots from the Department of Medicine (DOM) were featured: Empowering primary care to manage uncomplicated obstructive sleep apnea, presented by Dr. Vishesh Kapur, and reducing gastroenterology wait times through an access clinic, presented by Dr. Arvind Sangwaiya. I really enjoyed hearing about all the creative innovations to improve patient care both within and outside the DOM!
Looking forward, the UWP leadership is exploring Epic-based AI tools and a new value-based care model for better coordinated care.
WWAMI
As part of my School of Medicine orientation, I also attended a session last week on WWAMI, the UW School of Medicine’s one-of-a-kind, multi-state medical education program. In response to a critical shortage of physicians, especially those practicing in rural areas, the WAMI (Washington, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho) program was initiated in the early 1970s as the regional medical education network of the University of Washington School of Medicine. Wyoming joined in 1996.
Today, this regional medical education program is heralded as one of the most innovative medical education and training programs in the country.
Through WWAMI, UW medical students have access to a variety of settings for clinical training: from our busy Level I trauma center in Seattle, to a small primary care clinic in Libby, MT, to working with Alaska Natives in Anchorage, AK. Graduates are highly committed to meeting regional workforce needs, with more than 50% practicing in their home state and over 65% remaining in the region. More than half plan to serve underserved populations, and more than one in five intend to work in rural or small communities.
Many of you may know that I grew up in rural Texas and part of the appeal of coming to UW was being able to serve the same types of rural communities that I grew up in. My parents still have very little access to specialized healthcare without driving long distances. Many of our DOM community-based clinical faculty volunteer their time to educate our medical students. We also have residency programs across WWAMI that I’m looking forward to visiting later in the academic year!
P.S. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed Halloween. As you may recall, our Vice Chair for Finance and Administration Alyssa Williamson is a Halloween enthusiast (understatement of the year) and I went to her house on Friday evening to see her decked out house in the flesh. Her theme this year was “Harm to Table.” Admittedly I am less of a Halloween person and cannot remember the last time I dressed up but it seemed like the right thing to do this year so I showed up on Friday night in full costume with my pal Stitch!
