What is Professional Healthcare Advocacy?
Navigating through the US Healthcare System can be difficult and frustrating. This has initiated a new role, the Professional Healthcare Advocate. Advocates backgrounds are varied and include nurses, social workers, geriatric care managers or other health care professionals. There are also advocates who specialize in insurance or medical legal issues. Professional Healthcare Advocates do not accept insurance as they are not working for a company, they are advocating on your behalf.
The field of Professional Healthcare Advocates was launched out of the patient rights movement of the 1970s.
By the early 1990s Healthcare Advocates, Inc. determined that there were no organizations helping patients, one patient at a time. By 2007, it was accepted that patients need personal assistance from healthcare advocates would have to come from the private sector.
Since then Professional Healthcare Advocacy has grown as a profession and tool for individuals and families. According to the Alliance of Healthcare Advocates (APHA) there are approximately 500 Professional Healthcare Advocates nationwide.
My mission is to educate the public that they do not have to go thru their medical care journey alone. There is help out there!
I also give free talks on a variety of subjects including "How to Talk to Your Doctor and Be Your Own Advocate" and "Healthy Aging".
If you want to learn about Healthcare Advocacy or have a presentation at your organization please contact me!