This post asks the question: Under what circumstances do we go to the wall for our patient-clients? And when we need to go there, what’s the best approach? Scenario: Your patient-client checks ...
https://aphablog.com/2020/11/18/what-aretha-franklin-can-teach-us-about-communication/
Over the years, I’ve met, discussed, emailed, pleaded, and thrown my hands up at (probably) hundreds of advocates who have never truly become professional, independent, practicing advocates. Th...
https://aphablog.com/2020/10/30/all-that-but-missing-your-bag-of-chips/
Thanksgiving and the rest of the holiday season are right around the corner. Smart health and patient advocates and care managers can find this season to be a golden opportunity to expand their r...
https://aphablog.com/2019/11/17/families-need-you-a-thanksgiving-opportunity/
As children across the US and Canada start kindergarten this time of the year, I’m reminded of Robert Fulghum’s book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, a classic, published...
I’ve been working on updating the AdvoConnection Directory website because it was time, because search engines look favorably upon updates. And because my not-frequent-enough review of the site...
https://aphablog.com/2019/03/04/how-does-a-patient-choose-the-best-advocate-to-hire/
Back in the 1950s, into the 1960s, a game show called Who Do You Trust? aired where couples were asked questions, and one had to “trust” the other to answer it (or not!). If you remember the ...
https://aphablog.com/2019/02/18/johnny-carson-game-shows-and-a-lesson-about-trust/
You have probably heard that old joke about a Boy Scout who was determined to help a little old lady cross the street. After a number of attempts and iterations, he finally picked her up and carr...
https://aphablog.com/2018/08/20/when-granny-doesnt-want-to-cross-the-street/
Once upon a time, the word “advocate” was contentious: doctors didn’t want us in the room, nurses didn’t want us next to a hospital bed, and health insurers thought we patient advocates w...
https://aphablog.com/2018/07/09/help-us-assess-the-lovefest/
As 2017 comes to a close, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the blog posts you, my readers, considered to be most worth your reading time. Using post analytics, I’m able to se...
https://aphablog.com/2017/12/18/top-10-best-of-apha-posts-2017-in-review/
That’s quite a title for a blog post, don’t you think? I’ve been working on this one for awhile, and it seems to have taken on a life of its own. In fact, it’s so long, I’ve now divided...
Saturday night (well, OK, in the wee hours of Sunday morning) across most of the US and Canada, we “sprung forward” our clocks, resulting in lost sleep, and at least a day of being totally th...
https://aphablog.com/2017/03/13/sleep-deprivation-spells-opportunity-and-responsibility/
Last week marked the inauguration of the 45th president of the United States. No matter your feelings about him or his politics, he’s here to stay, presumably for the next four years, alongside...
https://aphablog.com/2017/01/23/repeal-of-the-aca-so-now-what-should-we-do/
As we kick off 2017, let’s look at the past year in review. What is the status of this profession of health and patient advocacy? How well is APHA serving the needs of patient-clients and its m...
When President Barack Obama ran for office in 2008, healthcare reform was already an enormous and contentious topic. In those days, I was invited to speak to dozens of groups of patients and care...
https://aphablog.com/2016/11/14/what-the-presidential-election-results-mean-for-patient-advocates/
Two years ago we asked whether a health/patient advocate can also be a decision-maker for her client in the form of being a healthcare proxy or guardian (the patient-designated person who makes e...
https://aphablog.com/2016/10/31/advocate-and-proxy-too-making-decisions-for-clients/
Twenty years ago, prior to self-employment and work in patient empowerment and advocacy, I was the marketing director for my local community college. In so many ways I loved that job. It was diff...
https://aphablog.com/2016/08/01/our-clients-need-this-one-skill-the-most/
We privately paid, independent, professional patient advocates “tend to be older, white, female, more highly educated, and have other medical training or past careers in related professions.”...
https://aphablog.com/2016/07/11/survey-says-the-results-are-in/
Early in my patient empowerment work, I was invited to write a column for my local daily newspaper. Over the next six years, I wrote hundreds of columns on every empowerment topic imaginable from...
From 2006 to 2010, I hosted a weekly radio show, sponsored by Upstate Medical University (Syracuse, NY). It gave me the opportunity to interview truly knowledgeable experts in every aspect of med...
We’ve made the decision. We’re leaving the cold Northeastern winters behind, and in just a few weeks my husband and I will be moving south. We’ve sold our home in Upstate NY. We’ve purcha...
https://aphablog.com/2016/04/18/these-8-yard-sale-lessons-may-improve-your-advocacy-practice/
Channeling Alex Trebec here? a few answers for you, with questions that may sound familiar? Most stem from real patients and caregivers who seek help getting what they need from the healthcare sy...
Posted in the APHA Discussion Forum by one of our member advocates, In the last week I have received calls from 2 potential clients whose physicians actually advised them to get a Patient Advocat...
https://aphablog.com/2016/02/01/physicians-buying-in-bring-on-the-patient-advocates/
If you think about it, rule-breaking plays an enormous role in the life and work of a patient advocate. Rule breaking – is one reason (even if it’s not the only reasons) we exist – a proble...
See if this sounds familiar: When it comes time to help a client, or discuss your work, or promote your practice… you hesitate. Sometimes just a little, sometimes more, sometimes you balk all t...
(Warning! Today I’m sharing a personal opinion for which I don’t expect total agreement. But I’m steadfast in my belief. I have science behind me. I’m girded for argument… bring it on!)...
Today we’re channeling The Who, Merriam Webster and one of my longtime favorite fellow patient empowerment buddies, Gary Schwitzer, who reminds me at least weekly why we just can’t trust the ...
https://aphablog.com/2015/10/19/merriam-webster-the-who-and-hacking-churnalism/
Sometimes life just sucks. At least that’s my conclusion after hearing recently from too many friends who are suffering various horrible things – health related, money related, death related,...
In 2012, I blogged about this very topic. One ticked-off reader then attacked me on Twitter. A day later, both she and another member of The Alliance of Professional Health Advocates left the org...
https://aphablog.com/2015/09/21/the-advice-that-may-tick-you-off/
They’re getting worse. Or at least it feels that way. I’ve just spent a week away, traveling across the country for both business and pleasure. While on the road, I’ve talked to dozens of p...
About once every five or six weeks I splurge on Chipotle for lunch. Love it – guacamole and all (Have you tried their corn salsa? Yum.) On my most recent visit, I did something I had never take...
https://aphablog.com/2015/05/18/surprising-wisdom-from-chipotle-will-make-your-day/
Our Fifth Annual Private Professional Patient Advocates Week is this week – March 16 to 22 -and I’m here to share tales of the growth of our profession. Can it be that patient advocacy as a ...
I received an email from a woman named Irma. She wants to become a health advocate, to assist people in her community who have Alzheimers. (Bless her for that.) But she was laid off from her job,...
https://aphablog.com/2014/09/29/cruel-to-be-kind-and-kind-to-be-cruel/
Margaret needs help for her aging father who lives 600 miles away from her. She wants to find someone to accompany him to doctors appointments, someone who can review and organize his medical bil...
https://aphablog.com/2014/09/08/babbling-will-get-you-nowhere/
Having just returned from the APHA Business and Marketing workshops in Tampa, and in reviewing my notes and questions from attendees, I’ve come to a new conclusion about why many people have so...
https://aphablog.com/2014/04/06/asking-wtwttch-helps-to-overcome-the-paralysis-of-analysis/
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...
https://aphablog.com/2013/10/14/a-surefire-way-to-drive-older-clients-away/
Suppose you are asleep one night, and the police break down your front door, yank you out of bed, arrest you, and take you off to jail…. What would you do? Who would you call? It doesn’t matt...
https://aphablog.com/2013/06/10/going-to-jail-spinning-plates-peace-of-mind-and-you/
I’ve just returned from Florida, having spent almost two weeks with my sisters, taking care of details since Dad died. There were plenty of tears – of course. But even more, there was laughte...
My father, Richard F. Torrey (known to friends as Dick), passed away yesterday, Sunday, September 30th. He was a remarkable man who led a remarkable life. I tell you this because part of Dad’s ...
https://aphablog.com/2012/10/01/the-lessons-we-will-learn-from-dad/
All patients and caregivers have questions for health advocates. Just like they have questions for their doctors, or nurses (or the Internet!), they have questions about navigating the craziness ...
https://aphablog.com/2012/07/08/ask-a-health-advocate-makes-its-debut/
This is it! Private Professional Patient Advocate Week (PPPAW)? is recognized this week, March 11 to 17, 2012. It’s a time to help patients and caregivers learn the many ways they can benefit f...
https://aphablog.com/2012/03/11/recognizing-private-professional-patient-advocates/
A link on Twitter precipitated today’s post and idea for you. It contains a challenge, too! See below. The tweet linked to a news article: A second set of eyes cuts errors at HCMC. It tells abo...
https://aphablog.com/2012/01/08/watching-the-headlines-for-opportunities/
Greetings at the top of new year, with hopes you had a great holiday season and you’re getting prepped for success in 2012. I always feel a bit of inertia after taking a break, or a vacation, o...
https://aphablog.com/2012/01/02/a-one-word-resolution-for-all-advocates/
(No – that’s not Dad in the photo – but this gentleman is quite representative!) Last week I shared notes from my father’s hospital bedside as he began his recovery from back surgery. The...
https://aphablog.com/2011/07/24/advocating-its-like-nailing-jello-to-a-tree/
Last week we recognized Private Professional Patient Advocates Week, and across the country, some great stories showed up in newspapers, on TV, online and in radio broadcasts sharing stories of p...
https://aphablog.com/2011/03/20/and-now-a-word-for-patients/
I’ve wrestled with this question more than once. It’s the question raised on occasion by those who talk about universal healthcare, and a for-profit healthcare system. It’s a question asked...
https://aphablog.com/2019/07/29/going-on-offense-who-deserves-an-advocates-help/
Sooner or later, it happens to every patient advocate or navigator who works with patients on the medical aspects of their care (as opposed to other forms of advocacy, like billing or legal advoc...
https://aphablog.com/2011/01/31/lessons-from-the-loss-of-a-patient/
I was quite surprised in a conversation recently with an advocate who is not (yet) a member of AdvoConnection. OK. That’s putting it mildly. I was actually stunned. “Why do people feel well s...
https://aphablog.com/2011/01/22/doctor-recommendations-do-you-should-you/
Updated March 2017 From time to time I hear from a patient who complains about a situation that occurred during a hospital stay – usually the spouse or child of a hospital patient. The great ma...
https://aphablog.com/2011/01/09/patients-advocates-in-hospitals-going-to-the-line/
One of our APHA members asked me about these differences a day or two ago… So I thought I would share my reply with you. She had called on a nursing home to see if they had interest in recommen...
Imagine – you suffer chest pains and are swept off to the ER. The pain meds leave you too groggy to make good decisions. Who will help you? Or – difficult symptoms result in a diagnosis that ...
https://aphablog.com/2010/11/24/why-cant-patients-be-their-own-advocates/
That’s a good question — what does a patient advocate do? And there are a handful of answers, depending on the kind of help you need. Some advocates help you with insurance claims, or review ...
https://aphablog.com/2010/07/04/what-does-a-patient-advocate-do/