Trisha Torrey

The More Things Change, The More They…

4 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment / By Trisha Torrey / September 2, 2013

… seem to change. Yes – I know that’s not the way that saying is supposed to go, but in this case, it’s true. Healthcare – and the pursuit if its best outcomes – changes constantly. Just think about the changes over the past few years! I suggest to you that all the changes in healthcare, ranging from the ACA, to updated research results, to use of the internet, to changes in DRGs and CPTs, to outright FRAUD – all create opportunities for advocates to market themselves and their services. All these changes have been on my mind in a […]

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The Affordable Care Act / Obamacare Defines Perfect Roles for Private Professional Patient Advocates

2 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment / By Trisha Torrey / August 25, 2013

The healthcare reform law called the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – or Obamacare if you prefer the moniker (preferences seem to run about 50/50) – is being implemented over time. Of course, as most of us realize, the major portion described as the individual mandate, kicks in January 1, 2014 – only a few months from now. No matter how you feel about the legislation for your personal situation, you owe it to yourself to become familiar with the aspects of the law that define excellent roles for health advocates, no matter what type of advocacy they practice – medical

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Stealing Not Allowed

5 minutes of reading / 3 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / August 18, 2013

Suppose you wake up one morning, and realize as you make your way to the kitchen that someone has broken in overnight and stolen your belongings! You never heard anything – you slept right through it. And yet, they’ve taken some of your most valued possessions. You feel violated. You’ve lost your sense of security. It’s a disruption, it’s disturbing, it makes you feel sick…. You try to figure out exactly what is missing, what exactly they have taken, and you wonder whether you’ll ever get any of it back or even more importantly, whether you can ever feel safe

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Amy Vanderbilt, Emily Post, and My Mother Are Turning Over in Their Graves

5 minutes of reading / 4 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / August 5, 2013

Updated 8/2019* I suspect you were raised just like I was. As a polite young lady, one who knew and followed the rules of etiquette (a l those mavens of etiquette, Amy Vanderbilt and Emily Post), I was taught never to toot my own horn. Bragging about accomplishments just isn’t polite. Let someone else recognize your achievements, and if they mention them to you, just blush, and politely deflect. Do your best not to take credit, and certainly don’t make it sound like you’re proud of what you’ve done….as in “What, this old thing?…) (Unless, of course, you are male.

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Playing Favorites

4 minutes of reading / 3 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / July 21, 2013

If you’re a parent, you know you’ve been asked this question: Which of your children is your favorite? Of course, there’s no way to answer that question! Because even if you have a favorite, you’d never fess up! As a parent, you do your utmost to be fair and equitable…. (We all know who our OWN parents’ favorite child is/was. My sister was my mother’s favorite. She was sweet, and quiet, and well behaved. And I was… well… not.) This week I was contacted with two different requests for referrals to APHA members, which means I am expected to pick

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What Do Insurance and Success Strategies Have in Common?

4 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment / By Trisha Torrey / July 14, 2013

I know. Those two terms – insurance and success strategies – rarely show up in the same sentence in the patient advocate world, right? So bear with me. I follow a company called IDEO on Twitter. @IDEO is a creative think-tank which credits its enormous success to its corporate values. When IDEO talks, those-in-the-know listen. Recently IDEO’s CEO, Tim Brown, shared a marvelous lesson, and it’s particularly useful for advocates. The reason this particular lesson is so appropriate for us is because there are so few of us, and because we are all striving to create success by building a

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Mid-Year Resolution Check Up – What Have You Accomplished?

2 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment / By Trisha Torrey / July 7, 2013

At the mid-year point, past the July 4th holiday…. time to take stock. All those resolutions I made on January 1 – how have I done? How many have I checked off my list? True confession time: I have NOT lost all that weight I was planning to lose this year, nor have I quit smoking (well, seriously – I never started so I didn’t really have to quit anyway). I’m not saving any more money this year than last, and I haven’t read the Bible or War And Peace. Yikes. Time to get a move-on. OK – your turn.

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