More and more patients are finding that they cannot get the medical care they need unless someone helps them get it. While sometimes there are loved ones and family caregivers who can step in to help, patients frequently must find professional help from patient or health advocates or navigators.
Here are stories written by these professional advocates to help illustrate how they can help patients improve their outcomes.
Advocate Helps Patient Dismiss $10,000 Hosptial Bill
I reviewed the paper work and bills that she had been receiving from the facility with her. I then suggested that she call her states Attorney General office and provide them with all the information…
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Advocate Helps Patient with Spinal Cord Injury Find Needed Services
Lifelong Wellness Advocates provided both research and coordination as well as hope for the patient and his family. Multiple leading spinal cord injury rehab programs were vetted based on the time th…
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Advocate Helps Veteran Take Advantage of Benefits
After my initial intake with the family and a visit to the subacute facility, I scheduled a care meeting with all the disciplines at the facility and the family. Prior to the meeting, I had reviewed …
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Breast Cancer Patient Makes Decision Against Chemotherapy
I suggested that the client ask the surgeon to order the Oncotype DX test to determine the likelihood that her tumor would recur if she did not accept chemotherapy. Oncotype DX utilizes the patient's…
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Parents Seek Patient Advocate's Help for Son's Mental Health Issues
With a couple of emails and a brief phone call I was able to go to work for this couple immediately. When they contacted me they were both very stressed out, at their wits end, having missed large ch…
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Patient Advocate Confronts Her Client's Employer to Retain Job
I comforted Rosa over the phone, and immediately got to work researching the law in Massachusetts relating to employee rights. I knew that The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) was a federal law that p…
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Stroke Patient Required Care Transition Plan
We developed a short term transition of care plan working with the hospital discharge planner. Some of the actions included:Development of a comprehensive care plan - with short and long term goals. …
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Patient Overpays the Dentist, Advocate Forces Refund
I reviewed her account with the dentist office and found that she not only had finished paying them, but she is now in a credit balance with them (they owe her). I immediately contacted the Dentist …
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Nurse Advocate Steps In for Client on a Cruise
Initially, doctors at both hospitals downplayed the critical nature of his illness. I insisted that he be admitted and contacted top specialists who intervened quickly the next morning. He was in the…
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Patient in Pain Finds Help from a Patient Advocate
This individual was understandably getting very frustrated at the various diagnoses he had received over time, only to be told after many months that they were not, in fact, the root of his difficul…
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