IGA002: Patient Advocacy Exposes What Hospitals Don’t Want You To Know

Summary:

Patient Advocacy is a growing field that serves many purposes. Lee has the distinct pleasure of learning about the many aspects of this field from Lisa Berry Blackstock, who has been involved with patient advocacy for many years. (website: SoulSherpa.net)

Lee and Lisa discuss the history of the field, what services it provides, who it serves, and how consumers might approach seeking the services of a patient advocate. Lisa also provides extremely valuable information by pulling back the curtain on many of the medical billing and hospital practices that compromises the health or increases the expenses of your health care.

This is a powerful discussion that will interest all those concerned with their rising medical costs and healthcare maintenance.

In This Episode You Will Learn:

• What Patient Advocacy is and what it is not.
• A brief history of the field.
• The multitude of services provided by patient advocates.
• Tips for finding the specific services you might need.
• How patient advocates are certified.
• Examples of typical medical billing practices from hospitals and insurance companies that increase consumer costs

Links and Resources Mentioned In This Episode:

• SoulSherpa.Net - Lisa's business website
• SoulSherpa Facebook Page
• @DependableDoc - Lisa's twitter handle
• Patient Advocacy Certification Board (http://pacboard.org/)
• Advoconnection website - has a good list of the srvices provided by Patient Advocates
• NAHAC -National association of healthcare advocacy consultants
• The Alliance of Professional Healthcare Advocates (AHPA)
• Medical Lobbyists in our political systems - What Harvard Law Students Need To Know About Changing HealthCare.
• Healthcare BlueBook - Never Overpay for Health Care Again
• DependableDoc for IPhone - First App Promoting Patient Push-back
• DependableDoc for Android - First App Promoting Patient Push-back