Sheila Rege, MD
Welcome!
I’m Dr. Sheila Rege, and I’m glad you stopped by.
In case you’re wondering, my name is pronounced “REGGAE,” like the genre of music. I’d like to tell you more about me and my practice.
There’s one thing I like hearing more than anything else in the world: a patient who has finished cancer treatment saying my team has helped – and how grateful they are to have us in the community today. I am passionate that patients receive the best care within my rural community in Washington state.
Throughout my career, including during my time within academics, then at a private hospital cancer center and now within my own practice, I have strived to take care of patients the way I would want my own family members to be treated. Patients inspire me, and I know they are counting on us as their physicians to ensure they have access to the best care.
I have been involved in organized medicine through the AMA since my medical school days at UCLA. Policy shaped by our AMA family has helped me overcome the different obstacles in each different type of practice setting. The strength and wisdom of our AMA family has improved my own patients’ health outcomes and ensured practice sustainability.
Our team was the first of its kind to offer clinical trials and to get national accreditation.
A group of local physician leaders within our rural community were determined to create a local cancer campus to improve the level of care within our community. As a consensus builder, I was asked to lead this effort. We worked together to develop a comprehensive program. Our community efforts receiving national accreditation and opening NIH/NCI trials for our patients. We developed resources to help comply with bureaucratic measures like meaningful use, advanced APMs, quality metrics. Our state, like many others, saw “merger mania” among hospitals and insurance companies. We worked together, with help from AMA staff, to ensure good working hospital bylaws and that physicians understood reimbursement issues related to their compensation.
As past president of the county medical society and a board member of the Washington State Medical Association, we were able to develop innovative ideas and creative solutions that allowed us to remain ahead of the curve. Guidance from AMA colleagues within the House of Delegates (HOD) and Council on Medical Service (CMS) helped us adapt to new challenges and ensured that our voices are the trusted source of medical information.
My goal remains to provide the best patient care. The alphabet soup of obstacles like MACRA, MIPS, APMS, HIPAA and EMR issues directly affect how I can take care of my patients.
All this made me realize that doctors like me, with firsthand knowledge of navigating these changes, must step back from some of our patient care responsibilities to serve on state and national committees shaping the future of how we interact with our patients on a one-on-one level in the years to come. I continue to work on these issues on behalf of patients and physicians at the AMA Council on Medical Service (CMS).
