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Trisha Torrey

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

Time to Kick Start Your Advocacy in the New Year

Like most of us, I get quite introspective the first of each year. Not so much in the making-resolutions sense. Rather in the “it’s time to get going” sense – after the pause of the holiday season. For 2013, I see big things in our futures of helping the people who need us, and improving their access and outcomes from the healthcare system – no matter whether it’s the American system, Canadian, British, South African or Australian. (Did you know The Alliance of Professional Health Advocates has members from all those countries?) And in that vein, I’m trying something a […]

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Healthcare System Challenges in 2013 Create Opportunities for Advocates

The healthcare times, they are a-changing! As we wrap up 2012 and look forward to next year (or perhaps, by the time you read this, it will already be 2013), there are a number of issues and challenges patients – our clients – need to be concerned with. Take the time to become familiar with these updates and challenges, alerts and warnings; they may create marketing opportunities for you as you alert potential clients that you can solve them as a part of your service. I’ve written about them here: Some are simply updates to how the system is managed

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Holiday Hospital Dangers Spell HERO for Patient Advocates

There is no time like the present to keep your clients out of the hospital. Just raising the issue may make you a hero to them. I realize how dramatic that sounds, but bear with me here. Think about any workplace you’ve ever worked in during the holidays. Employees, even customers, are not nearly as focused on the work-at-hand as they are during non-holiday times. They may be taking sick days or personal days off (shopping and baking take precedence!), they may be leaving work early to see their kids in the Holiday Concert at school. They may be laughing

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Plenty of Disruption at the PPAI Conference

It was an incredible collection of professionals representing a wide spectrum of private and hospital advocacy. Men, women, younger (20-somethings), older (70-somethings), newbies (“I’m still thinking about it”) and veterans (“I’ve been doing this for 20 years!”). Bedside advocates, hospital advocates, billing and claims advocates, mediators, nurses and nurse practitioners, lawyers, x-ray technicians, social workers, CPAs, mothers, fathers, daughters and sons, nieces and nephews, neighbors and friends… And they are all disruptive – and are now more committed to continuing disruption than ever. Such was the PPAI (Professional Patient Advocate Institute) Conference held last week in Orlando. It was a

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Seize the Moment! A Free and Easy Marketing Tip for Advocates

It’s the best kind of marketing tip. There’s no cost to execute, it doesn’t take much time, and if your target audience is seniors, it’s a sure fire way to put you in front of them, providing an opportunity to describe your services and the benefits of working with you. No – it’s not public speaking. No – it’s not about “making the sale.” It’s much more subtle, and incredibly useful. While I don’t do this often, I’ve decided to reserve this tip for Premium and PACE members of The Alliance of Professional Health Advocates only. In order to find

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A New Tool for Choosing Providers – and You Can Help

If you aren’t aware of the Society for Participatory Medicine, you should be. The organization’s membership is comprised of people who work or seek healthcare who promote participation, collaboration, cooperation and empowerment of all parties involved in the practice of medicine. Yes – people like us. You may be more familiar with the group if I tell you that the “e-patient” movement started with the SPM. Importantly – members include patients, caregivers and others who are not necessarily traditional participants – and yes, advocates. It truly lives up to its name: PARTICIPATORY. We, as advocates, are too keenly aware that

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Professionalism Ratchets Up a Notch at the 2012 NAHAC Conference

While Superstorm Sandy made an attempt to put the kibosh on this year’s NAHAC Conference (National Association of Health Advocacy Consultants), she could not dampen the spirits, nor the passion or professionalism of this year’s gathering. … proving, once again, that you can’t slow down this advocacy freight train. While I understand that a handful of folks didn’t make the trip (some from storm-torn areas), the crowd was almost as large as it might have been if no storm ever tried to stand in the way. As it turned out, at least a half-dozen folks from the NYC / NJ

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