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legal questions about health advocacy

The Advocacy Liability Insurance Conundrum

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upset and worried

Once in awhile a topic in the APHA Connect! Discussion Forum takes on a life of its own. The recent conversation regarding liability / professional / E&O (errors and omissions) insurance for advocates is one of them. I’m going to share part of the conversation with you, then provide some perspective, too. The Conversation Trigger Recently, the company that has provided business liability insurance to the majority of professional advocates during the past few years has decided to stop covering advocacy practices. APHA’s insurance advisor* has explained that the insurer has decided instead to focus on different kinds of insurance. […]

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She Crossed the Line: An Ethics Violation Which Gave Us All a Black Eye

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bruised - black eye

It was jarring. It was upsetting. And it was taken care of swiftly. One among us decided that advocacy ethics don’t apply to her. And her actions, way outside our best practices and ethics, could have caused a patient to die. This is what happened (with no names or identifiable citations, because it could have been anywhere or anyone, and those specifics aren’t the point): I was first informed of the problem last October (2020) when I heard from the Senior Investigator from the State Board of Nursing. She had identified me as a leader in the profession of independent

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Bogus Claims Will Come Back to Bite You

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(This post is being published in May 2020 – in the midst of the pandemic – when many advocates are working from home, and hopefully taking time to update and improve their business practices. I hope the message here rings true for those of you – the few of you – who need it, and that necessary changes will be made accordingly.) ….. True confessions here! I met my husband on Match.com. We met and married in 2006. Today we continue to live our happily ever after. Prior to meeting him, I dated a handful of other (so-called) gentlemen I

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You May Be a Criminal Without Even Knowing It

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handcuffs

You’re probably shaking your head… Criminal? Seriously? Of course you haven’t broken the law! You’re a law-abiding citizen and would never consider doing such a thing! And yet, there may be hundreds of you who have done just that. Further, you would deny it – until you learn the facts. The facts, described here, may help you get back in line with the law if it’s required.

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Raise Your Dues So We Can Turn the Titanic?

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The Titanic - from wikipedia

Heard on the street (and on the phone, and during an in-person conversation, and by text….) IFs and THENs: If [the healthcare system] was just ______, then ______ ! You’ll have your own variations to fill in there, like: If healthcare was less expensive, then more people could get care! If doctors would spend more time with me, then I could get my questions answered! If insurance would just cover it, then my client could get the treatment she needs! If there were more specialists to cover my ailment, then I wouldn’t have to wait so long for an appointment!

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Revisiting the Mean Girls in Our New Advocacy Environment

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The “mean girls” are at it again… or so I’ve been warned by a handful of APHA members. I’m not sure I agree. But I know one thing for sure: the world of the mean girls has shifted. Who are the “mean girls?” I first applied the moniker about three years ago to refer to nurses who believed that no one should be a patient advocate unless he or she is a nurse. I cited instances when a small handful of nurses had bullied other non-nurse advocates both at conferences, and through emails – yes, actively bullied. I outlined once and

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3 More Myths About Building a Successful Independent Advocacy Practice

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We began last week with this series of myths about starting, building, and growing an independent patient advocacy or care management practice. As a reminder, these myths are based on the comments I’ve heard from advocates who just couldn’t get a practice going – who (sad to say) failed – not because they don’t know how to be good advocates (they do!) but because they tried to get started despite their misconceptions about what it would be like to do so. This week we have three more of those myths for you to consider, in hopes these misconceptions aren’t yours.

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