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The Advocacy Liability Insurance Conundrum

5 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment / By /
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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The Momma Test

3 minutes of reading / 1 Comment / By /
Portrait of an old woman with her adult daughter.

Over the years, one of my favorite things to do has been to work with / speak to / address college students. They are young, aren’t yet set in their ways, still hope to save the world, are naive to the “follow the money” aspects of healthcare and, honestly, it’s just plain fun. Last week I had the privilege of participating in an ethics debate for a well-known and respected university in a course called Controversies in Healthcare (medical, legal, and bio ethics), to a combination group of law students and medical students, on the topic of independent advocacy –

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5 Lousy Excuses for Walking Away from an Advocacy Practice – and 1 Very Good One

6 minutes of reading / 1 Comment / By /
stop making excuses

The blame game has been on my mind recently after several emails or phone conversations, plus the results of an exit survey offered when APHA memberships expire. In all cases, people gave reasons (as in, excuses) for why they felt like it was time to give up their practices or let their memberships expire. In almost every case where someone actually started a practice, then decided to step away, they blame some part of their practice that didn’t work out. They wanted to be independent advocates. They certainly expected to succeed when they got started. Their passion and drive were

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Do You Pass the Trust Muster? Says Who? Announcing Background Checks for Health Advocates

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We were all there at one time; that point in early adulthood when we realized we needed someone to guide us as we saved money for our futures and retirement. We didn’t understand much (if anything at all) about investing, or 401Ks or IRAs or REITs or annuities. We were confused. We thought we would miss something important. We needed an expert – an investment advisor! Someone who truly understood all this investing and saving stuff, terminology, possibilities, to help make it happen…. Someone who could hold our hands over time as needed…. Someone we could trust with our money.

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What Health Advocacy Is, What It Isn’t, and Why Most of It Can’t Be Taught

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One of the websites offered by APHA is a listing of all advocacy educational programs (that we know about). There are programs offered by colleges and universities, private programs, organizational programs, mentors, and more. Some require in-person attendance, some are offered online. Their quality varies, and their results vary…. Often I hear from someone who tells me they have looked over the available programs, but can’t find what they need. What they are looking for doesn’t seem to exist. Or, here is what they want to learn, and will I tell them whether such-and-such a program will teach them that?

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Rats! Seattle History Exposes a Lesson for Advocates and Care Managers

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rat in sewer

I love Seattle. I have visited several times, all work-related, and always pleasurable. Such a vibrant city, so many good-hearted people. If I didn’t live so far away, I’d visit far more often. This month I visited Seattle again, and for the first time, I enjoyed several tourist days. Delightful! From the Space Needle, to the Chihuly Gardens, from the Pike Place Market food tour, to a tour of the Seattle Underground… which brings me to the point of today’s post. Early Seattle history is very much about the Seattle Underground. It’s so different from any history I’ve learned before,

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APHA Members in the News

39 minutes of reading / By /

Find APHA Members, AdvoConnection, and the Alliance in the News If you are curious about patient or health advocacy, and how it is treated by the media (newspapers, radio, TV, web) you may find any of the following links interesting. News by or about our Alliance Patient and Health Advocate Members can be found at the top of this list.  News about patient and health advocacy in general can be found below. We welcome media inquiries.Media contact information is located here. News By or About the Members of The Alliance of Professional Health Advocates, APHA, and the AdvoConnection Directory Updated

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Charging on a Sliding Scale Just Creates a Can of Worms

5 minutes of reading / 1 Comment / By /
sliding scale can of worms

Most advocates and care managers I know have huge hearts. They want to help everyone who needs help! They truly dislike having to charge money for their services (because many have done this work for free for friends and loved ones for a lifetime). Further, in many cases, they don’t give themselves credit for being as capable as they are. So they struggle. They ask themselves how on earth they are going to ask for money from these (possibly desperate) people who contact them, especially when: They are new, and haven’t worked in private practice for very long (if at

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Raise Your Dues So We Can Turn the Titanic?

5 minutes of reading / 2 Comments / By /
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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Starting Out? Why a Non-Profit Practice Is NOT the Right Answer for You

5 minutes of reading / 4 Comments / By /

This is a question – or a statement – I hear frequently from those who wish to be independent health or patient advocates who are considering which business formation they need to set up to be independent.* After considerations of LLCs, or S-Corps or others, they tell me they want to establish a non-profit, then ask me if we offer resources to help them. Fay is one such advocate wannabe. She asked, “Do you have any advice for establishing a non-profit or not-for-profit agency to help patients?” Unfortunately, her question was being asked for the wrong reasons. Why?

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