Trisha Torrey

200 Patient Advocacy Ideas For You

2 minutes of reading / 2 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / February 9, 2015

Yes – this post is #201 on this blog since it was first launched on June 1, 2010. At around 800 to 1,000 words per post (average) – that’s a lot of idea sharing. When the blog was first started, it was intended to speak to both advocates and the patients who needed good ideas and advice. The AdvoConnection Directory was new. The membership organization, now called the Alliance of Professional Health Advocates, was simply called the AdvoConnection Member Organization. There was no cost to be a member (there is now!) – and yet we still had only about 120 […]

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Remembering the Mean Girls

6 minutes of reading / 4 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / February 2, 2015

In Fall 2010, about 150 health advocates, many of whom were just considering entering the profession, convened in Washington DC for the Second Annual NAHAC Conference. I was there at the invitation of NAHAC, to both be a vendor, and to give a presentation about marketing for advocates. The conference was a resounding success in my estimation, using my two conference-success measuring sticks: 1. I met so many smart, wonderful, passionate people and 2. I learned so much more than I imparted. But there was one aspect to the conference that left a bad taste in my mouth, marring the

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The Two Pieces of Advice You Will Ignore – Until You Are Burned

6 minutes of reading / 3 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / January 26, 2015

Consider these scenarios: Scenario #1. Jane calls you, in a panic. Her mother, age 88, who lives in your city, has fallen at her nursing home. Mother Frederick has been hospitalized, but Jane can’t get there until late tomorrow and wonders if you would be willing to help her mother until Jane can get there. Of course you can! This is the very reason you are an advocate. (Alternatively, Jane asks you to review her mother’s medical bills because she’s afraid her mother’s insurance isn’t covering everything it needs to cover. You, as a medical billing specialist, agree eagerly to

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Be Bold! Like Wearing Pants to School

6 minutes of reading / 1 Comment / By Trisha Torrey / January 19, 2015

OK – I will set the stage for this blog post with a true confession… I graduated from high school in 1969. (Go ahead – do the math!) So you can imagine I was interested in this post on Mashable called October 1969 Hippie High School. Now, granted, the photo above was taken 4 months after I graduated in June. But still – there is something about these photos that isn’t immediately identifiable today as a BIG DEAL. But it was a big deal! At the time it was HUGE. That is, some of the girls were wearing PANTs to school.

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Sorry. That’s Not Good Enough

7 minutes of reading / 2 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / January 12, 2015

One of the most visible changes in the new health insurance reality are the medical bill surprises people are receiving that they never received before, for services covered previously as a matter of course. You know – whereas their insurance automatically approved a CT scan for purpose X in the past, now patients need pre-approval. Without that pre-approval, payment for that CT scan comes out of their own pockets – totally unexpected and usually very expensive. Most of us learn the hard way that we need to get permission for many of the services that used to be automatically approved.

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A New Year, and the Responsibility of Potential

7 minutes of reading / 1 Comment / By Trisha Torrey / January 5, 2015

“Happy New Year to you and much happiness and success in 2015!”… You know that all business conducted by email or holiday card during the past few weeks has ended with just that greeting – or variations on that theme. It can be the hollowest of greetings – not that you don’t really wish the person you’re writing to success and happiness – of course you do! But usually when we add it to a casual correspondence because it’s easy, it’s simply cordial – a good ending – without much thought to what’s behind it. But this holiday season, I’ve

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Santa Can Teach Us Advocates Plenty About Good Branding

5 minutes of reading / 1 Comment / By Trisha Torrey / December 14, 2014

The holidays are here! And whether or not Santa plays a role in your own celebration, you have to give it to him – he may be THE most recognizable brand in the world. It struck me this week that what Santa stands for, and what advocates stand for, are very similar: selflessness and improving others’ lives. So what can independent health advocates learn from Santa Claus about branding ourselves, our work, and our practices? Plenty. Basic branding is based on three things: 1. Recognition We all recognize Santa. Even variations on Santa imposed by others – we still know

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