Trisha Torrey

Patient Advocates, Income Tax Deductions and Guide Dogs

4 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment / By Trisha Torrey / February 20, 2012

(Updated March 2021) It’s income tax season in the United States. Some of us have already filed our income taxes. Some have piled up those 1099s and W-2s and are mustering up the courage to make an appointment with our tax preparers. And others are saying, “Please don’t remind me!” But let’s not forget – it’s tax season for our clients, too, many of whom have accumulated enough medical expenses that they may be asking whether or not they can deduct your health or patient advocacy, navigation or medical billing review services from their taxes. Good question, right? Have you […]

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When Is Potential Competition the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Your Business?

4 minutes of reading / 8 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / February 12, 2012

(Posted February 2, 2012) One of my favorite restaurants is an Italian place called Dominick’s. The food is always delicious, the pasta, sauces and dishes are homemade (you cannot beat their meatballs!), the wait staff is always friendly and the prices are fair, too. It’s a family place, with a busy bar and a glass-fronted bakery case with the most sinful-looking desserts. There’s only one Dominick’s, and sometimes it’s so busy that the wait can be well more than an hour. (I’ll bet you have a Dominick’s in your town, too, even if it’s called Antonio’s, Nick’s or Enzo’s –

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10 Lessons Patient Advocates and Navigators Can Learn from the Superbowl

5 minutes of reading / 2 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / February 5, 2012

I’ll confess that I’m not a big football fan. And I’m certainly not a big fan of sports metaphors (which actually drive me crazy in business because I think they are exclusionary – not everyone understands them.). But I am a fan of learning good business lessons from the experiences we have and the activities that are going on around us. And the lessons we can pull from the Superbowl are, well… super. So please forgive the sports metaphors for the moment, and see what you can learn: 1. The Superbowl is about excellence. Only the top two teams in

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Some High Profile Marketing and a Review Opportunity, Too

3 minutes of reading / 3 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / January 29, 2012

Deviating from my usual advice or issues-type post, I have a couple of invitations for you today. In both cases you’ll be helping yourself and helping future health or patient advocates, too. Invitation #1: Tell a success story. Many of you know that (in my “other life”) I write about patient empowerment – issues, concerns, advice and tips. One thing I am reminded of every day is that many people have no idea that such a service as private patient advocacy exists. They may even see references to patient or health advocates or navigators who can help them weather their

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Advocacy, Politics and the 2012 Elections

4 minutes of reading / 4 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / January 23, 2012

I’ve been in Florida for the past week, working, advocating, feeling my jaw clench and my back go up each time I’ve seen or heard a commercial or watched a newscast that focuses on one of the Republican primary candidates. (As an aside – it’s not because they are Republican – it’s because the commercials are so nasty, denigrating, and insulting or because the candidates or their henchmen say such nasty, denigrating, insulting things about each other.) Florida, of course, is the next primary state, to where all the candidates will rush once the results are in from South Carolina.

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Coopetition – But Don’t Give Away the Farm

4 minutes of reading / 2 Comments / By Trisha Torrey / January 16, 2012

Many readers of this blog know that prior to devoting my career to patient empowerment and patient advocacy, I owned a small marketing company that worked specifically with service professionals and small businesses. I had clients of every flavor, from manufacturing companies to hair salons, from lawyers to book authors, to cookie-bakers and small distribution companies – a gamut. An important part of my work was mentoring – helping others who wanted to be in business grasp the basic concepts that were necessary, helping them apply those concepts to their own fields, then jump in with both feet. I truly

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Watching the Headlines for Opportunities

3 minutes of reading / 1 Comment / By Trisha Torrey / January 8, 2012

A link on Twitter precipitated today’s post and idea for you. It contains a challenge, too! See below. The tweet linked to a news article: A second set of eyes cuts errors at HCMC. It tells about an initiative at Hennepin County Medical Center (Minneapolis) that cut the medication errors found in patients’ discharge paperwork from 92 percent – to zero. 0. Nada. No medication errors. Impressive. Now, if you or your patient-client happens to be discharged from Hennepin County Medical Center, that’s great news. But the article got me wondering – what about the other 99.999 percent of discharged

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