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What Patients Fear – The Waiter Will Spit in Their Soup

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In the patient empowerment corner of my world, a complaint or fear I hear voiced by patients is the fear of retaliation. They are afraid that if they speak up to their doctors, or ask questions, or make their own decisions, then they will get substandard care. The provider will be so upset, he or she won’t provide what the patient really needs. I call this The Waiter Will Spit In My Soup Syndrome. I’ve never had a conversation with someone who can identify a time this actually happened to them – where they got care that wasn’t up to […]

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Is Grampa Packin’ Heat? And Other Safety Considerations for Advocates

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Sometimes a conversation gets started in our APHA Forum that brings me up short. (One reason I SO love the Forum!) One of those conversations was kicked off this week by a member who posed a question: are other members asking potential new clients whether they have guns in their homes? I’m not a gun person, and I live in an area where we just don’t think about guns much, so I really didn’t understand the question at first…. until others chimed in. It’s about safety – which, of course, makes perfect sense. Many members followed up Marie’s question with

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A Surefire Way to Drive Older Clients Away

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OK – so I confess. I talk baby talk to my dog. He’s little, and snuggly, and adorable – and it’s just so easy to call him cutesy names and fall into that simplification of short sentences that we do with babies, too. Just what is it about babies and puppy dogs that begs us to speak baby talk to them. I think that it’s that aura of vulnerability that surrounds them. Vulnerability that begs us to be reassuring or coddling or just drippy-sweet. They clearly need caretaking or caregiving, and we, as their protectors, want to make them feel

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High Tech, Scalability and the Human Role of Health Advocates

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One aspect of healthcare that not enough people understand is about the role of technology for providing medical services: how it should be used, when it should be used, and why it should be used. That disconnect in understanding creates a huge gap in the healthcare continuum that we patient advocates fill – immediately understood, instantly appreciated, and more than worth whatever a client will pay for it. Put simply: tools can’t provide the hugs and reassurance that individuals crave, and need for survival. Consider: There is a huge difference between directly providing care coordination, and using technology to do

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And a Great Time, and Some Great Learning, Was Had by All

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My head is still spinning from our Business and Marketing Workshop Experience in Chicago over the weekend. While I’ve already told you how United Airlines tried to ruin the experience for me, I don’t want that to overshadow the real outcome of the weekend; that is, that about 25 of us got together for 1-1/2 days of EXCELLENCE. My measurement of EXCELLENCE comes from attendee comments, but even more so from the things I learned along the way, too. It’s the interaction, the connections, and the shared learning that comprise my definition of excellence. Observations and comments:

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Flying the Not-So-Friendly Skies Can Teach Us All a Lesson

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If I never fly United Airlines again, it will be too soon. They have violated my trust over and over again. And I can’t be the only one. It’s a miracle they stay in business. And as I went into hour #7 of my frustration with them yesterday, I realized that private patient advocates can actually learn from my latest United Odyssey. Here’s the story: I can be found on anywhere from 30 to 50 flights in any given year, depending my speaking engagements and other consulting work. In general, airline customer service really tanked around 2008, except for Jet

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The More Things Change, The More They…

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… 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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