FAQs

A Healthcare Advocate is someone who “pleads the cause of another” relevant to their healthcare needs. Many people are intimidated by the medical setting, physicians and invasive procedures. A Healthcare Advocate should be able to act as a supportive guide through these appointments–providing educated commentary as well as physical and emotional support. You should trust your advocate to act on your behalf and work well with all members of your healthcare team.

For those adult children who are too busy to sit on the phone, wait for return calls, make it to another doctor’s appointment, visit senior facilities, a Healthcare Advocate is your answer to cloning yourself!

For the new parent who has no idea where to turn to get help for their asthmatic child.

For the significant other who may not know how to best support their partner during an acute health crisis, a Healthcare Advocate can help walk through the steps necessary.

There are a variety of additional reasons to hire an advocate.

The Center for Advancing Health published (February 2011, Prepared Patient Forum):

In interviews…conducted about receiving care after a serious diagnosis, again and again patients and families raised their bewilderment (and annoyance) about the difficulty of learning how to communicate with their specialists. And the same was heard from people discussing their regular providers. People can’t figure out how to get their test results. They are puzzled about whom to call after hours or on weekends. They are baffled about whom they should talk to regarding billing and insurance problems. They are flummoxed by the new and unfamiliar demands placed on them by different sources of continuing care: rehabilitation hospitals, cardiac rehab, oncology suites, neurologists and other specialists and for some, unfamiliar primary care medical homes.

No. At this time, advocacy services are not reimbursed by managed care or Medicare. Our services are private pay only.

We offer care coordination, appointment accompaniment, specialist recommendation options, family liaison services, safety and residential assessment analysis, and based on diagnosis, clearly elucidate healthcare options to our clients. Additionally, we provide an ongoing partnership with clients and their families to produce a comfortable relationship with all parties which would allow for utilization of our services for long term health/wellness planning.

We have over 20 years in the healthcare industry. At least 7 of those years have been working on patient advocacy issues, both in the pediatric/adolescent and adult populations.

Think about what or who you need help with—a physician, a parent, family, hospital, insurance, other.

A brief overview is all that’s needed in the beginning.

Call our service and allow us to help you elucidate the initial complexities of your needs.

We begin our work together to solve your concerns.

Yes. A phone call or email inquiry can start your case. We ask for at least 15 minutes over the phone to determine whether we can help you or need to provide a referral.

If the matter is urgent, call 911 immediately. While we have a full time Nurse Practitioner on staff, you need to ensure that your health is not imminently compromised.

If your urgency is due to worry, please call us as soon as possible. We will do our best to help.

Each client signs a HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) form and as such is entitled to the privacy rights required by that document. At some point, we may consider placing testimonials on the site, but not at this time.

When we talk, feel free to ask about our experience in the area you need. We want you to feel comfortable with us.

We charge an hourly rate and have ‘compound-hour’ rates as well. We are committed to resolving your issue in a timely manner. Our first 15 minute phone inquiry is without charge.  It will help determine what it takes to get started.