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Eight Hour Day? Get Paid for Sixteen

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Patient advocate Joan H. Elper has been an independent advocate for more than a year now. She has worked with seven clients during that time, and is growing her practice slowly but surely. Her focus is medical-navigational in nature, helping mostly elderly parents of the adult children who hire her understand what their doctors tell them. She also has two cancer patients who want to self-direct their care more than the doctors would like, so some of Joan’s reward comes from seeing those clients make informed decisions based on their own wants and needs, and finding that their doctors have […]

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Doing What You Love Right Into a Hole

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Each week I’m contacted by a handful of people who have just begun thinking about becoming professional patient or health advocates. Often they share long stories – many paragraphs or several minutes long… describing years of advocacy for a loved one, or a resume full of nursing experience, as if they need to convince me that they would make a good advocate or they run the risk of not hearing back from me. These long, heartfelt messages are about the intersection of passion for advocacy – and the wish to use that passion to make a living. Advocacy fits them.

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All Dressed Up With Big Places to Go

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(Update: December 2017. This post was written in 2014 (see the URL in your browser bar) when we launched the “new” directory – pictured below. Since then, our even newer directory was launched in Fall 2017. We continue to upgrade and update for directory listed advocates!) When I was a first grade teacher (which, I dare say, might have been before some of you were born), I got a huge kick out of one observation I made in early January every year. My observation was that my students returned after the holiday break – and once again – their pants were

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Why Being Too Helpful Will Destroy Your Advocacy Practice

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As the director of an organization for private, independent patient advocates, this time of year is full of big excitement – and big disappointments, too. Today is January 12, 2014 and I’m excited to tell you that 32 new private advocate wannabes have joined Alliance of Professional Health Advocates just since the first of the year. For each one who eventually goes into business as an advocate, we can anticipate that they will help perhaps 100 client-patients in the next 5 years – potentially 3200 people (plus their families) who will enjoy better medical outcomes, or save plenty of money

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Let’s Do a Refresh for 2014 – A Tipping Point for Private Advocacy!

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The holidays are behind us. The fre-e-e-zing cold has arrived in most of North America. We’re feeling a little sluggish perhaps…. and maybe need a kick in the behind to get ourselves going in 2014. 2014. That means we’re in our fifth year of building this new profession…. Let’s make this the Year of the Independent Patient Advocate’s Tipping Point! (can I hear an A-MEN?) Are you ready for it? If not, and if you’re in practice working with clients, helping them with the dozens of services they need, then you can probably use a reminder and refresher for those

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Of Honor and Yardsticks

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If anyone decides one day to research and write the history of private, independent patient advocacy, they will likely put the genesis of the profession as 2009, when the first two advocacy organizations, NAHAC and APHA / AdvoConnection were launched. Of course, there can’t be such a thing as an organization unless there are people who are looking to be… well… organized. I don’t know how many members NAHAC had when it opened its doors, but APHA / AdvoConnection launched with about 30 interested parties, of whom perhaps a dozen were already working successfully as privately paid advocates. We’re still

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Learn Something Every Day

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Today I’m going to brag about my sister – to make a point. I expect it will embarrass her a little (no intention to do that) but she illustrates something very important – a good lesson for us all. Barbara (Torrey) Friedman, decided a few years ago (2010) that she’d like to learn a little something about photography. “A little something” has now become a skill that is, simply put, awe-inspiring. And yes, that’s a photo she took two days ago of a real snowflake, one of bazillions that fell in Ithaca, NY where she lives. Think about it. She

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