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Trisha Torrey

Trisha Torrey is the founder and executive director of the Alliance of Professional Health Advocates.

The Weakest Link

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Remember that TV show from a decade or more ago? When a contestant failed to answer a quiz question correctly, the host would sternly declare, “YOU ARE the WEAKEST LINK. GOOD-BYE!”? Remaining, of course, were the more knowledgeable contestants, presumably a stronger chain of smarter people who could get the job done. Oh man, how I wish I had been able to invoke that host’s dismissal powers this past week! As both my husband and I had to deal with different parts of the healthcare system, we encountered roadblocks – the weakest links – and in each case, we had […]

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And They Called it Puppy L-o-o-ve

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…. Remember when you were a teenager in puppy love> Oh! You couldn’t stand to be away from the new person in your life! You knew you would love each other forever – but the rest of the world that was getting in the way of that love. THEY thought you were too young, but you knew better! …. And they called it puppy love Oh I guess they’ll never know How a young heart really feels And why I love her so It was the highest of highs, finding love for the first time! Like no other, you couldn’t

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Gallimaufry: Your Questions, Some Answers, Media and Just Stuff

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Last summer I came upon this great word – a word I had never heard before, but which can be used in so many aspects of conversation and life! The word is “gallimaufry.”? It means a hodgepodge, a jumble, or confused medley of things – items, ideas, anything at all. It’s a great word for an advocacy entrepreneur! It describes the many ideas that come together to define challenges and create solutions, or the many activities it takes to achieve success, or even the creative approaches it takes to help our clients, or help each other. I’ve even adopted the

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Common Courtesy and Who Owes What?

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It was a desperate plea from a young women (we’ll call her Bethany) with a real problem: Bethany had been through several years of infusion treatment for services rendered outside of her network, beginning while she was still a teenager. Her insurance company covered the service (because it wasn’t available at all within her network). So insurance had paid Bethany’s mother for each claim, and then her mother paid the infusion provider. The problem was that, over the years, the mother had paid less than the total amount due – and then she passed away. The infusion company got in

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The Best 3 Minutes and 16 Seconds You’ll Spend Today, This Week, Month or Year

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One of our APHA members* forwarded this video link to me, interested in the idea posed about starting one’s practice before it is perfect. So I watched it… And watching it was perhaps the best 3 minutes and 16 seconds I have spent on business motivation in a very long time. So I ask you, too, to spend your next few minutes viewing it – then come back here for a few comments…. Standing Out in a Noisy World “tap” “tap” “tap” “waiting for everyone to come back to this post….” “tap” “tap” “tap” OK – so in those few

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Monetizing, Scaling – Making Smart Choices Affects Your Advocacy Practice and Income

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An email this week comes from one of our APHA members, who I will call Bernice, who reminds me of how easy it is to lose sight of what is important to us when it comes to building our advocacy practices. Bernice is in the process of entering a business plan competition which, if she wins, will provide her with a $10,000 grant to help her grow her practice. Her concern is, that in order to win the money, she is going to have to write a business plan that’s about “going big.” From her email to me: “We have

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Health Advocacy Ethics – Conflict of Interest? Or Important Service?

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A recent conversation with a handful of knowledgeable people, people I respect a great deal, yielded two different outcomes – either a loud “yes, of course!!” or a loud “no, no way!” So I want to know what YOU think. As a prelude to the story – the question I will ask you at the end is: Should Gwen become Mrs. Smith’s healthcare proxy? Can she ETHICALLY make that shift? (We are not asking a legal question here ? only a question of ethics.) Mrs. Smith is 90 years old and until recently was quite healthy. She is alone; her

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