health advocates and navigators

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:

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 Tragedies That Keep Me Up at Night

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The collision of my two professional worlds is keeping me up at night. It provides a cautionary tale for private, independent patient advocates. Not all readers of this blog know that I have my feet planted in two parts of this patient-assistance world. My first foray into healthcare started in 2004 with a horrific misdiagnosis which resulted in a change of careers (from being a marketing consultant) to becoming an expert in patient empowerment. By 2005 I had started writing on patient empowerment topics. Then in 2006, I began doing a great deal of public speaking across the US – …

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Don’t Kick Yourself Later! The Top 10 Reasons You Need to Attend the APHA Workshops

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With only two weeks to go before our Alliance of Professional Health Advocates Business & Marketing workshops, we still have a few seats left! I know that in the past when I’ve been on the fence about whether to take a course or attend a seminar, I have too easily let them go by without taking action – missing out entirely – and then – ARGHGH! – I kick myself afterward. I do not want you to kick yourself afterward if you miss them! So here are your top 10 reasons to attend these workshops: 10. Because, no matter what …

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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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Stealing Not Allowed

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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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What Do Insurance and Success Strategies Have in Common?

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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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