Why Medical Societies Still Matter

By Nancy L. Belcher, PhD, MPA – CEO, King County Medical Society

Across the United States, the foundations of modern medicine are being tested. Reproductive rights are being rolled back, vaccine policy is increasingly debated in legislatures rather than laboratories, and public health infrastructure is being weakened when communities need it most. At the same time, physicians face rising administrative burdens, workforce shortages, and growing political pressure on clinical decision-making.

In moments like this, one question becomes unavoidable: who speaks for physicians — and for the patients they serve? For more than a century, medical societies have helped answer that question.

Medical societies bring physicians together to ensure that healthcare policy reflects clinical reality, scientific evidence, and the operational realities of the healthcare system. When legislation is debated, when crises emerge, and when public trust in medicine is challenged, medical societies provide the structure that allows physicians to organize quickly and respond collectively.

This year alone, KCMS engaged on more than twenty pieces of legislation in Olympia, addressing issues ranging from prior authorization reform and physician workforce policy to artificial intelligence in healthcare, reproductive health access, workplace safety, and firearm injury prevention. These policies affect not only physicians, but also the health systems and organizations that rely on a stable and effective healthcare workforce.

When physicians are organized, their expertise helps shape legislation before it becomes regulation that affects hospitals, clinics, and patients across the state.

Physician Leadership in Policy

Throughout the 2026 legislative session, KCMS submitted testimony and policy statements on legislation affecting:

• Prior authorization reform and administrative burden
• Workplace violence prevention in healthcare settings
• Artificial intelligence and algorithmic bias in clinical systems
• Physician workforce development and international medical graduate pathways
• Corporate ownership of medical practices
• Access to reproductive healthcare
• Firearm injury prevention and public health strategies
• Women’s health and endometriosis awareness
• Public health and cancer research funding

Medical societies ensure that lawmakers hear from physicians who understand the realities of clinical care and the pressures facing healthcare professionals today.

When Crisis Hits, Physicians Organize

The value of organized medicine becomes even clearer during moments of crisis. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when supply chains collapsed and healthcare systems struggled to adapt, KCMS mobilized quickly.

• We built a PPE manufacturing and distribution network, partnering with Seattle manufacturers and textile experts to produce tens of thousands of masks and gowns for providers across Washington State.
• We equipped clinics for telehealth almost overnight by securing and distributing technology donated by partners including Microsoft and Logitech, helping practices remain operational during shutdowns.
• We advocated successfully for telehealth payment parity, persuading insurers to reimburse virtual care months before statewide legislation required it.
• We worked directly with the Washington Department of Health to ensure vaccines reached independent physicians, dental practices, and healthcare workers who might otherwise have been overlooked.
• During the most exhausting months of the pandemic, we coordinated meal deliveries to hospital teams and frontline clinics to support healthcare workers working around the clock.

These efforts were not directed by federal agencies or large institutions. They were driven by a small team at KCMS and a network of physicians committed to protecting their colleagues and communities.

Join a network of physicians shaping policy, strengthening care, and leading the future of medicine.

Strengthening the Physician Voice

Strong medical societies depend on the engagement of physicians and the support of the healthcare organizations they serve.

• When physicians participate in organized medicine, they bring frontline clinical experience into policy discussions that affect patient care, healthcare delivery, and the broader health system.
• That perspective is essential when legislators consider policies related to workforce shortages, reimbursement, administrative burden, public health, and access to care.
• Many physicians join KCMS individually because they want a voice in shaping the future of medicine.
• Many hospitals and health systems support physician membership because it strengthens the collective physician voice helping guide the policy environment in which healthcare organizations operate.

In a rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, strong physician participation in medical societies benefits not only the profession, but also the healthcare institutions and communities physicians serve.

Why This Matters Now

Healthcare is entering a period where policy decisions increasingly shape clinical practice.

• Artificial intelligence is entering the exam room.
• Public health programs face funding cuts.
• Evidence-based medicine is being challenged in public discourse.
• And the healthcare workforce remains under extraordinary strain.

In this environment, physician leadership in policy is not optional. It is essential.

Medical societies remain one of the most effective ways physicians can organize that leadership, protect the integrity of medical practice, and ensure that healthcare policy reflects the realities of patient care.

For individual physicians, participation in organized medicine offers a way to turn clinical experience into meaningful policy influence.

For healthcare organizations, supporting physician engagement in medical societies strengthens the collective voice that helps shape the environment in which healthcare is delivered.

The future of medicine must be shaped by physicians who are willing to step forward, speak clearly, and work together to protect the patients and communities they serve.