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Announcing: A Big Change for Admission to the AdvoConnection Directory
Many readers of this blog are familiar with, or are already listed in the AdvoConnection Directory. It’s THE place to be for private, professional, independent advocates who want to be found and hired by patients or caregivers who need them. It’s the largest, and the only “vetted” directory that exists for advocates. We”re announcing today a big change to what it takes to be listed in the directory which will affect almost everyone who has given thought to being included in the directory – but isn’t yet listed. That may include you! We’ll begin with a little history to help you understand the change. A History of Independent Health / Patient Advocacy Directories When AdvoConnection was first launched in 2009, it was the only directory of independent advocates in existence. And – that’s all it was – just a directory. There was no membership organization associated with it. There were 30 advocates listed – and they were there because they SAID they could be advocates. Period. There was no vetting, no review, and (you’ll love this….) no cost! AdvoConnection Homepage: December 2009 Of course, in those days the circumstances were quite different. Very few people called themselves “patient advocates” or “health advocates.” Certainly no one would ever want to be in a directory if they weren’t really qualified to help patients, right? Wrong. Within months of our launch, it became apparent that such an approach couldn’t last for the long haul. We quickly figured out: That allowing just anyone to be listed in the directory didn’t serve patients well. Not everyone who wanted to be listed had the chops to do what needed to be done for patients. They would say, “I just want my name in there to see if people will call.” (This raised all kinds of ethics red flags!) That not everyone who was listed in the directory understood how to run a business. Some offered free services because they thought that would be a good way to launch a practice. (It’s not!) Too many of the listed advocates began to ask to be removed from the…