09/04/2026
Dear Colleagues,
Before we dive in, I want to take a moment to thank each of you who reached out with kind words, thoughts, and prayers for my father and our family. It has been a deeply humbling few weeks and your warmth has meant more than words can express. My father is home now and continues to recover and we are grateful for every step forward.
There has been so much happening on the advocacy and implementation front that we honestly could not fit it all into one email. The work of the past several weeks has been significant enough that it is going to take us the next few emails over the coming weeks to bring you fully up to speed. We want to make sure each update gets the attention it deserves rather than rushing through everything at once.
So consider this the first in a series of updates. There is a lot of good news ahead.
The Tide Is Turning.
Something shifted recently and we want you to feel the weight of what that means.
For months we have been knocking on doors, introducing this pathway to healthcare leaders across the country, educating organizations one conversation at a time. Many of those conversations ended with polite interest and no follow through. That is the nature of change. It is slow. It is repetitive. And it requires an enormous amount of patience from everyone involved.
But something is different now.
Healthcare leaders are no longer just listening politely. They are leaning in. They are asking questions. They are scheduling follow up meetings. The conversation has shifted from curious to committed and we are witnessing it in real time.
This is what we have been working toward. And it is just the beginning.
The Washington State Hospital Association Summer Board Retreat.
At the end of July, Dr. Mohamed Khalif and I attended the Washington State Hospital Association Summer Board Retreat. We went in with one goal. To tell the story of why this pathway matters and why internationally trained physicians deserve the opportunity to practice at the top of their license in communities that desperately need them.
That story landed.
Not just with the smaller organizations in the room. With the large health systems. With the leaders who have the resources, the reach, and the influence to change what is possible for ITPs across the entire state of Washington and beyond.
The room understood something that we have known for a long time. This is not a fringe idea. This is not a workaround. This is a legitimate, structured, state supported solution to one of the most pressing healthcare crises in this country. And for the first time, some of the most powerful voices in Washington State healthcare are beginning to see it that way too.
This was not just a presentation. It was a turning point.
MultiCare.
Among those we had the privilege of speaking with at the retreat was the President of MultiCare, one of the largest and most respected health systems in Washington State and the Pacific Northwest.
She was genuinely intrigued. She asked thoughtful questions. She engaged with the mission. And she expressed interest in establishing a small committee to explore the potential of this pathway within MultiCare.
We want to be honest with you. We do not know exactly where this will lead. There will be obstacles. Large health systems move carefully and deliberately and changing the thinking of an organization of this scale takes time. But WeAreDocs will be at the frontline of this conversation every step of the way.
This is the first time a health system of this magnitude has expressed genuine interest in exploring this model. And that matters enormously, not just for the physicians who may one day be placed through MultiCare, but for every ITP in this pipeline. When a health system like MultiCare moves, others follow.
We are also excited to share that MultiCare is expanding into Oregon, which means this relationship has the potential to open doors in an additional state simultaneously. The ripple effects of this single conversation could be far reaching.
The Innovation Minded Organizations Leading the Way.
MultiCare was not the only organization that caught our attention at the retreat.
Several smaller community hospitals also expressed genuine interest in exploring this model. These are the organizations we love working with most. They are nimble. They are creative. They are operating in communities with real and urgent physician shortages and they are willing to think differently about how to solve them.
These are the first movers. The organizations that do not wait for everyone else to validate an idea before they act on it. And in our experience, the organizations that move first are the ones that benefit most.
If you know a community hospital or clinic in Washington State that fits this description, now is the time to make an introduction. The door has never been more open.
Texas: A Fight Worth Having.
We also want to be transparent about a significant challenge we have encountered in Texas.
WeAreDocs has been working to place ITPs under the Texas Medical Board pathway and we ran into a barrier that is both frustrating and frankly counterproductive. All sponsoring programs are currently required to be affiliated with ACGME, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
On the surface this may sound reasonable. In practice it undermines the entire purpose of the pathway. The organizations that need this model the most, the resource poor hospitals, the rural clinics, the underserved community health centers, are precisely the organizations least likely to have ACGME affiliation. Requiring it effectively shuts out the very communities this pathway was designed to serve.
This does not make sense. And we intend to say so clearly and persistently. We already have a game plan in place and are actively working with legislators to make the necessary changes in their next legislative session. This is not a defeat. This is a fight worth having. And WeAreDocs will be at the frontline of it because the patients in those communities cannot afford for us not to be.
Utah: A State That Is Ready to Move.
On a much brighter note we are thrilled to share that WeAreDocs will be working directly with Utah’s Department of Professional Licensing to help launch their pilot program for the alternate licensure pathway.
Utah has been a genuine pleasure to work with. They are enthusiastic, collaborative, and deeply committed to making this work. This is exactly the kind of state partnership that moves a pathway from legislation to reality and we are honored to be part of building it.
We will share more details as the pilot program develops. But Utah is open, ready, and moving forward. And WeAreDocs will be right there with them every step of the way.
A Surprising and Revealing Discovery in Washington State.
We have also begun conversations with the Washington State Department of Health about this pathway and what emerged from those early discussions stopped us in our tracks.
The Department of Health was not aware this program existed.
Let that sink in for a moment. Washington State is the most advanced state in the country when it comes to the alternate licensure pathway. It is where this model has been most thoroughly developed and most successfully implemented. And yet one of the most important governing bodies in the state had not been informed about it.
They reached out to us. We connected. And now we are in active and energizing discussions about how to spread awareness, provide education, and build deeper institutional support for this pathway at the highest regulatory level in the state. They are genuinely excited to work with us to spread and educate employers about this program and what it makes possible.
But here is the broader implication that we cannot ignore. If the Department of Health in Washington State, our flagship state, was not aware of this program, imagine how many other authoritative organizations in other states are in exactly the same position. Medical boards. Health departments. Hospital associations. Governing bodies that have the power to accelerate or obstruct this pathway, many of whom have simply never heard of it.
This is why awareness work is not optional. It is the foundation of everything. And it is why we need every physician in this community continuing to have these conversations in every corner of this country.
3RNET: A Hugely Successful Conference.
At the end of August, Dr. Mohamed Khalif attended the 3RNET conference and represented WeAreDocs and the entire ITP community with everything this mission deserves.
It was a tremendous success.
The networking was deep and meaningful. The conversations were substantive. And the interest in expanding this pathway into the rural and underserved communities that 3RNET serves across the country was real and enthusiastic.
We came away with a significant number of leads that we are actively following up on and more workshops to deliver in the months ahead. The relationships built at this conference have the potential to open doors in communities that have been waiting far too long for a physician to walk through them.
Dr. Khalif represented every one of you in that room. And he did it with the conviction and passion that this community deserves.
A Note on Cancelled Appointments.
Finally I want to address something personally.
If I have had to cancel an appointment with you recently, I am genuinely sorry. My father’s health has required my presence in ways I did not anticipate and some commitments have had to be rescheduled as a result.
If you had an individual appointment that was cancelled, I would encourage you to join one of our upcoming Saturday group information sessions. Peace will be sending out dates and invite links and these sessions are a wonderful way to get your questions answered, hear the latest updates, and connect with others on the same journey without having to wait for a one on one slot.
For individual questions, please feel free to email me directly at Sam@WeAreDocs.com. I read every message and I will get back to you as promptly as I can.
Thank you for your grace and your patience. It means everything.
I want to close with something important.
All of the work you are reading about in this email and in the emails to come, the retreats, the board meetings, the state partnerships, the advocacy conversations, it can feel abstract when you are still navigating the day to day reality of this pathway. I understand that. And I want to assure you directly.
This is foundational work. It is the kind of work that does not produce immediate results but creates permanent and lasting change. You may not be seeing it yet from where you stand. But I promise you it is coming. Every room we walk into, every relationship we build, every seed we plant is laying the groundwork for a pathway that is stronger, more recognized, and more accessible than it has ever been before.
Your patience is not going unnoticed. And it will not go unrewarded.
If you are new to this newsletter, feel free to visit https://wearedocs.com/articles/ to catch up on everything you have missed. This story has been building for a while and it is worth reading from the beginning.
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