Seattle Hospitalists Vote to Unionize

A group of about 115 hospitalists at five Swedish Medical Group locations across the Seattle area voted to unionize as a wave of physician organizing continues nationwide.

The hospitalists voted to join Northwest Medicine United (NWMU), AFT Local 6552, which represents hundreds of physicians and advanced practice providers throughout the Northwest, the union announced. They represent the first group of doctors in the Providence health system to organize in the state of Washington.

Physicians are meant to “be in charge of patient safety and patient experience,” Clark Coler, MD, a 32-year veteran at Swedish, told MedPage Today. However, the business side of organizations places emphasis on working faster and harder, collecting and documenting more, and ultimately, maximizing profits. “It’s very disheartening for physicians.”

“We constantly feel like we need to do more with less,” Coler added. Physicians are burning out “very quickly,” he noted. And patient complexity is increasing.

He pointed to not only physicians who have practiced for decades, like himself, but also younger colleagues who have just graduated from residencies. “The light goes out of their eyes in about 3 years,” he said. “This is not what they signed up for.”

Greater job security is another driving factor felt within the group amid “economic stresses on the healthcare sector across the country,” he said.

The Seattle hospitalists’ vote to unionize comes as physicians continue to demonstrate they want a seat at the table through a wave of recent organizing efforts, as MedPage Today has reported. The sentiment coincides with more physicians now being employed rather than running their own practice.

Unionization efforts at many different institutions across the country have helped to spur others.

For example, the number of union petitions with physicians in bargaining units increased in 2023-2024 compared with 2000-2022, with recent motivations mainly pointing to working conditions, lack of voice in management, and patient care concerns, according to a study from 2024. In that report, filings to unionize were concentrated in western states, with 43 of 77 included in the study in California, Oregon, and Washington.

Announcing the most recent vote to unionize, NWMU noted the significance of the large size of Providence Swedish in western Washington. To date, Providence physicians have primarily unionized in Oregon.

The latest group is comprised of full-time, part-time, and per diem hospitalists at Swedish Medical Group’s five locations in Washington state: Swedish Issaquah Campus in Issaquah, Swedish Cherry Hill Campus in Seattle, Swedish First Hill Campus in Seattle, Swedish Ballard Campus in Seattle, and Swedish Edmonds Campus in Edmonds.

“We like to think that this is a win-win,” Coler said. Not only will the physicians be more empowered, but the administrators will be able to more easily communicate with their group of doctors, he contended.

“While we would have preferred to maintain a direct relationship with our clinicians, Swedish respects the choice made by our hospitalists,” a Providence spokesperson said in a statement provided to MedPage Today. “Although this outcome is disappointing, we are committed to bargaining in good faith with [NWMU] toward a first agreement.”

“Our focus remains on ensuring a supportive environment for clinicians and high-quality care for our patients,” the spokesperson added.

Ultimately, the group of hospitalists at Swedish wants to “bring back the values in healthcare that we seem to have abandoned,” Coler said. The group is “not coming to the table pounding fists asking for more money,” he said. “We just want greater control over the decision-making that affects our careers.”