Patient Navigator

First Annual Conference of National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants (NAHAC) to Be Held Nov. 14-15; Board of Directors Announced

Conference Addresses Issues Defining Rapidly Growing Patient Advocate Profession

BERKELEY, Calif., Oct. 13 /PRNewswire/ — The National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants (NAHAC), the nation’s first professional association for people working as healthcare and patient advocates, will hold its first annual conference November 14-15 at the University of California, Berkeley Clark Kerr Campus.

Conference workshops will include topics ranging from best practices for advocacy decision-making through solving health insurance problems, working effectively with physicians, legal issues, advocacy for children, and using technology to maximize efficiency. Case studies will also be presented.

“The founding of NAHAC and this inaugural conference are major milestones on the road to formalizing our profession, creating healthcare consumer protection standards and promoting this rapidly growing field of healthcare advocacy,” says NAHAC founder Joanna Smith.

Conference presenters/topics:

Ann Tardy, Founder, LifeMoxie; Keynote Presenter: “The New World of Healthcare Advocacy — Creating It Together!”

Jeff Belkora, PhD, Director of Decision Services and Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Institute for Health Policy Studies, U.C.S.F.: “Making Good Decisions in a Family Health Crisis”

Linda Garrett, Partner, Risk Management Services: “Confidentiality and Privacy Law for Healthcare Advocates”

Gail Gazelle, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School: “Inside the Doctor’s Mind: What Every Advocate Needs to Know”

Maggie Radany, RN, Founder, Radany & Associates: “How to Solve Health Insurance Problems and Be a Hero to Your Clients!”

Dianne Savastano, Founder & President, Healthassist: “Bringing Bob Home: A Case Study in Patient Advocacy”

Elisabeth Schuler Russell, Founder & President, Patient Navigator LLC: “Inside the World of Pediatric Healthcare Advocacy”

Judith Stark, Principal, Judith Stark Consulting: “Harnessing the Power of Technology Solutions for Healthcare Warriors”

Inaugural members of the NAHAC Board of Directors:

President: Joanna Smith, CEO, Healthcare Liaison, Inc., NAHAC Founder

Vice-President: Elisabeth Schuler Russell, Founder & President, Patient Navigator LLC

Secretary: Ricka L. White-Soso, MSW, private healthcare advocate and consultant of FLW Living Well Services

Treasurer: Maggie Radany, RN, MPP, Radany & Associates, health insurance consultant and healthcare advocate

Representation of the Founding Members: Laura Weil, Director, Sarah Lawrence College Master’s Degree Program in Health Advocacy

NAHAC membership is open to individuals interested in healthcare advocacy.

For the conference brochure and more information about NAHAC visit: http://www.nahac.memberlodge.com

 SOURCE National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants

Bookmark It

Do you have a quick health care, medical, cancer care, chronic disease, caregiving, elder care or administrative or integrative care question you would like answered?  Have you been getting lost in the medical information maze on the Internet?  You don’t have to feel overwhelmed any longer.   Stop searching!

Patient Navigator LLC is pleased to announce a new, free service.  “Ask A Navigator” is designed to let users ask a quick question and get a quick answer.  We have access to experts in many health care fields who have personal experience navigating many illnesses, conditions and aspects of our medical system.

I hope to have this service up on www.patientnavigator.com very soon.

In the meantime, you can ask your question directly here via the comment section on this blog and it will be answered here.  If it’s something that would benefit others, please use this forum.  Or send  your question to:  ask.a.navigator@patientnavigator.com

We look forward to helping you.

Bookmark It

The September 12 New York Times carried a piece by Lesley Alderman titled, “After a Diagnosis, Someone to Help Point the Way.”  http://bit.ly/2SZ0Er

It was very well done, but as usual with these types of stories, does not paint the entire landscape of the emerging profession.  It is unfortunate that the author focused on one advocate who charges $200 an hour for her services.  The extensive reader comments on the “Well” blog following the article help to flesh out the story.

There are many individuals out there trying to help others navigate the health care system.  I started my company, Patient Navigator (www.patientnavigator.com), after struggling through my 2-year old daughter’s journey through brain cancer. I will never forget the moment of diagnosis and being cast into the cancer universe without a lifeline. Her miraculous survival has taken me down this path now, after a 24-year career in government.

Believe me, most of us doing this are doing it from the heart. I talk to anyone for free and often a simple phone conversation can help overcome a major obstacle. I would never dream of charging $200 an hour. This is not something one does for the money. It’s to make sure other families don’t suffer through what we suffered through and to offer help and problem solving so that they can focus more on their recovery.

Navigating a serious illness affects the whole family, finances, jobs, daily life. There is much more that a medical mentor, patient navigator or cancer coach offers than just help with getting appointments.

We individuals are finding each other and have formed a National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants. We are casting a wide net to bring together like-minded people. To learn more, visit http://www.nahac.com.  Our inaugural conference will take place November 13-15 in Berkeley, California.

We have been blessed with our daughter’s survival and I plan to spend the rest of my life thanking God for that through the work I do.

Bookmark It

On June 22, NPR reporter Richard Knox aired this story during the “Morning Edition” broadcast.  It was an excellent piece profiling efforts by an individual and a volunteer organization to help patients and families get the care they need to navigate our health care and elder care systems.  Each time the media does a piece on the needs of patients and the role of advocates, it helps to make folks aware that many of us are out there to do just that.  It also helps advocates and navigators to find each other! 

 I encourage you to listen to the whole piece.  Mr. Knox  followed up in a blog post on June 25 in which Patient Navigator LLC was mentioned as a resource.  http://tinyurl.com/loaz9k  National Public Radio does an superb job reporting on health care and health care reform.  You can learn more by going to www.npr.org

Bookmark It

The March 29, 2009 edition of Parade magazine featured an article about the new specialty of patient navigation.  The article highlights some of what navigators can do.  For now, the National Cancer Institute has undertaken several pilot projects to train and deploy navigators in medically underserved areas.   But as the article also correctly points out, patient navigators can help anyone who finds the health care system confusing.  Patient Navigator, LLC, my company, has almost five years of experience  navigating on multiple fronts:  cancer diagnosis, long-term chronic diseases, elder care transitions.  Please visit www.patientnavigator.com  to learn more.  I am happy to answer questions via this blog or through the website.  Here is the parade article:   http://www.parade.com/health/2009/03/patient-navigator.html  As the article concludes, and I agree, “you don’t have to go it alone.”

Bookmark It

You need a patient navigator to bring health care and life care together when…

• an illness strikes you or a loved one and the diagnosis thrusts you into an unfamiliar world of doctors, test and treatment options during a time of uncertainty and vulnerability.
• your parents are aging and need more help than you can provide during a time of stressful change in their lives.
• you want help managing your family’s health care needs.
• you are overwhelmed by the paperwork and insurance requirements related to your illness and need to organize and analyze those records.

This blog is dedicated to providing information and guidance on these and other health care topics. 

It exists because I believe that no person should be cast into our complicated, expensive and inefficient health care system without a lifeline.  I have learned that lesson the hard way and want to help others.

If you have a question or concern on any of these topics, please comment to this post.  Undoubtedly, others have a similar question or experience to share and from which we can learn.

Bookmark It