Patient Advocate Description

While nurses and doctors have worked in the health care system since its beginning, patient advocates are relatively new to the scene. Patient advocates provide a wide range of services; all geared toward improving the patient experience.

History

• Out of the patient rights movement of the 1970s came the "Patient Bill of Rights." Because of this new requirement from the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, it became essential for hospitals to employ patient advocates to ensure that the patients' rights are upheld and that care goes as smoothly as possible.
  With the establishment and growth of HMOs and other managed care organizations, the health care system became an even more difficult system for patients and families to navigate on their own.
  Because of the ever-expanding health care system has a maze of options for medical treatment, insurance policies, finances and legalities, it became evident that there was a need for more patient advocacy---someone to coordinate all of these options to create the best possible outcome for each patient. Enter the private patient advocate.

Types

• There are three kinds of patient advocates. The first is the hospital-based advocate. The hospital advocate's primary responsibility is to ensure that your stay in the hospital is satisfactory. Sometimes this could mean replacing a broken TV in your room, or it could mean fixing insurance glitches. Once your hospital stay ends, so does the role of a hospital advocate.

  A privately hired patient advocate differs from the hospital advocate in one significant way; his advocacy services continue outside the hospital. Whether you are in the hospital, at home or in a different care facility, such as a nursing home or group home, the patient advocate can help.

  The third type of patient advocate is a volunteer. These advocates can be family members, friends or volunteers from health advocacy organizations, such as the American Cancer Society.

Considerations

• Currently, there are no professional, educational or licensing requirements to act as a patient advocate. This means there is no regulation or monitoring of competency and ethical standards for this profession. However, many patient advocates operate under the professional standards and ethics of other professions that emphasize advocacy as a requirement of the vocation. These alternative advocacy positions include nurses, social workers, counselors, psychologists clergy members and doctors.

Function

• Depending on a patient advocate's experience, education, licensing and interests, she can act in a variety of roles: mediator, insurance advocate, health educator, communication specialist, researcher or counselor. It is the ultimate goal of any patient advocate to assist the patient in expressing his medical needs and wishes, getting those needs and wishes met and working to ensure a more seamless and smooth journey through the oftentimes rugged health care terrain.

Benefits

• While using an advocate, a patient and her family can focus more on recuperation or end-of-life care rather than handling the details surrounding care. The assistance a patient advocate provides can be invaluable. Using the services offered by an advocate can reduce patient and family stress, lessen the chance of treatment and billing errors and help foster a greater sense of cooperation between the patient, family, medical professionals and health insurance providers.