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Less Becomes More: Where Subtraction Has Positive Results

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I spent the weekend gardening. It’s spring, after all. Since my last assault on my garden last Fall, many plants got leggy, or died, or just needed rehab of some sort. Unlike many of my neighbors (and maybe you, too!) what I love most about gardening is finishing it. It feels so good when it stops! 🙂 What was unique about my weekend gardening is an observation I made; a good metaphor to share with you, in hopes of providing some inspiration on a service you can provide to your clients. (Yes, this is what happens when I’m pulling weeds. […]

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The Patient Advocate’s Version of “Time’s Up!”

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It’s no surprise to any of us women who work for a living that sexual harassment and violence have been part of the fabric of our workplaces for our entire careers. With few exceptions, we have all had our “Me Too” experiences to one degree or another. And it doesn’t take more than a few seconds for our brains to take us back there to the anger, frustration, fear, and embarrassment we felt at the time. While my intent is not to co-opt the Time’s Up Movement for women in the workplace, I cannot pass up the opportunity to point

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An Advocate’s Guide to CYA

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One of the simplest best practices for patient advocates is also the one with the fuzziest line. Sometimes it can be difficult to know at what point that fuzzy line will be crossed, and since crossing it can lead to problems for a client, put a private advocate out of business, or even result in a lawsuit against the advocate, we need clearer definition to be sure we C our own As (that is, CYA = Cover Your A**.) Let me explain.

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Stop the Insanity! Instead Try These Baby Steps: Learning to Ask for Money

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Long-time readers of this blog know my frustration over newly-minted private, independent advocates volunteering their time as a way to prepare to be professional advocates. Newbie advocates cite two major reasons for doing their advocacy work for free: They are afraid / reluctant / don’t have enough confidence to talk about money and ask for payment. They feel sorry for the prospective client, and figure it won’t take too much time to help them. … both of the above. The problem is, doing volunteer advocacy as a way to start an independent practice is the very best way to put

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Don’t Let HIPPA* Drag Us Down

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Today I’m sharing a beef about HIPAA. Respect for our profession is at stake. Remember, one of our goals is to become one of THE most respected of professions who work in the healthcare system. Today’s post is an ode to that goal. HIPAA is the acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. (It often surprises people to learn that the P in HIPAA has nothing to do with privacy, because that’s the specific reason we must deal with it – for privacy’s sake.) Advocates are no strangers to HIPAA, even though we are still unsure about whether

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When Passion and Reality Collide

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Over the years, I have connected with thousands of people who intend to become independent health advocates and care managers, and 99.9% of them have one thing in common: their choice of health advocacy as a career is a result of their passion for helping others. They are caring individuals with skills for navigating some aspect of the healthcare system. They are empathetic, and those they will help recognize their empathy right away.They aren’t looking to make a fortune in business. Instead, much of their reward will come from knowing they have helped improve the quality of other people’s lives.

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Of Heroes, Trust, Discord, Arrogance, and Karma – Part I

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copyright Sergey Nivens 123RF

This year I can tell I’m finally getting beyond the trauma. It’s a feeling of freedom to some extent, but sort of a shame to another. And you know me – I always end up analyzing these things (or, perhaps over-analyzing them) – enough so that I’m going to share some of that analysis with you. The trauma I refer to was the cancer (lymphoma) misdiagnosis in 2004 that propelled me to change careers to patient empowerment, and eventually advocacy. By trauma, I mean that I was told I that in a few short months I would be dead, and

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