Pricing Your Worth

This post was contributed by
Caryn Isaacs, Get Health Help

You may have noticed that all of the Patient Advocate Mentors, recommend some form of business planning. We all have successful businesses because we learned to price our services in a way that fits our individual approach to doing business.

I previously worked as a practice management consultant. The doctors I helped to start or expand their practices, never wanted ...

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Patient Accompaniment — In Good Times and Sad

This post was contributed by
Lisa Berry Blackstock, Soul Sherpa®

When a patient advocate decides to offer patient accompaniment services, the most common motivating factor is a desire to help a patient navigate the healthcare system more effectively. Better results can take the form of streamlined communication with healthcare providers, ensuring proper diagnoses and plans of care, and minimizing unnecessary diagnostic procedures and medical interventions when lifestyle changes might be all that’s needed.

There are cases, though, ...

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To Thine Own Self Be True (with apologies to William Shakespeare)

This post was contributed by
Cindi Gatton, Pathfinder Patient Advocacy Group

As professional patient advocates we come to our discipline with a deep desire to help people through the vagaries of our healthcare system, a system that can swallow up even the most informed consumer. Our clients trust us to be able to step back from the situations that are upsetting and unfathomable to them to help them make truly personalized, informed decisions.

This is not work for the ...

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Vision, Practice, and Leadership

This post was contributed by
Karen Mercereau, RN Patient Advocates

Do you have a Vision? Does this Vision underlay the structure of your evolving practice? Are you a Leader in your field?

We Advocates who have a vision of what we see as necessary to improve healthcare today, who are inspired to follow that, act upon it and develop that vision into a practice, have a unique opportunity to become Leaders in our fields. Let’s ...

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Exceeding Expectations

This post was contributed by
Linda Adler, Pathfinders Medical

I recently spent a weekend visiting my old college campus. I was eager to return to the city I had adored in my youth, the place that had such a deep impact on my adulthood. But I wasn’t sure where to stay, given that the city had grown dramatically, and there were so many unfamiliar options in areas that didn’t even exist in my day. So I went with ...

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Why it’s so important to understand business (why you will fail if you don’t)

This post was contributed by
Elisabeth Schuler

Often people are drawn toward patient advocacy because in their own lives, they helped family members or friends struggling to overcome obstacles or find solutions as they navigated an illness, chronic disease or the transitions in the life of an elderly parent. Many come out of those experiences passionate that others going through the same thing should not have to “learn the hard way” and determined to use their newfound knowledge ...

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A Patient Advocate’s Life

This video post was contributed by
Caryn Isaacs, Get Health Help

A Patient Advocate’s Life

Caryn Isaacs

Are you prepared to help people regardless of your feelings towards them?

 

Ask yourself:

  • Do you like to get involved in other people’s problems and to take control of the situation?
  • Do you like to get involved in complex issues?
  • Do you like to listen to what others are saying?
  • Are you in good ...
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The Challenge of Assessing the Merit of a Client

This post was contributed by
Lisa Berry Blackstock, Soul Sherpa®

Most patient advocates are hungry for business, and for good reason. More customers mean better business revenues. It’s one of the major reasons people enter into business, regardless of the profession.

Patient advocacy isn’t any different. What is different about our profession, though, is a knee-jerk tendency to assume every potential client is a client worth taking. What patient advocate doesn’t want to help a person in need? We ...

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A Louder Voice

This post was contributed by
Martine Brousse, AdvimedPro

The majority of patient advocates are independent business owners, performing a number of tasks themselves. I am my own CEO, employee, bookkeeper, IT gal, advertising agency and, on Friday afternoons, cleaning lady.

While a number of these jobs can be outsourced, I encourage mentees and advocates to take the time and make the effort to perform one specific task themselves: getting “out there”. Not only is public speaking a great way ...

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Lions, Tigers, and Insurance….Oh My!

(or why investing in the jungle of insurance competence is worthwhile for your practice)

This post was contributed by
Cindi Gatton, Pathfinder Patient Advocacy Group

Occasionally when I’m asked the inevitable “What do you do?” at a party, I answer that I am a personal fire department for health care issues.

Most calls to the fire department don’t come when people first smell smoke, but rather when someone sees flames. The reality I experience in my own practice is ...

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