This post has been shared by the APHA Mentor’s Blog. It was written to help you start and grow an advocacy practice.
It is provided so you can find it in a search here at myAPHA.org, but you’ll need to link to the original post to read it in its entirety. Find the link to that post at the end of the excerpt.
Link to the original full length post.
Lions, Tigers, and Insurance….Oh My!
(or why investing in the jungle of insurance competence is worthwhile for your practice) This post was contributed by Cindi Gatton, Pathfinder Patient Advocacy Group a mentor for those who are building an advocacy practice. Find Cindi’s Mentor Listing. Occasionally when I’m asked the inevitable “What do you do?” at a party, I answer that I am a personal fire department for health care issues. Most calls to the fire department don’t come when people first smell smoke, but rather when someone sees flames. The reality I experience in my own practice is that many prospective clients aren’t motivated to pay for help until they see the flames. They either can’t smell the smoke, hope the smoldering will just go away, or feel their personal fire extinguisher will be enough to take care of it. Until it isn’t. When a prospective mentee contacts me, I want to know the scope of practice they want to offer. Most of us understand the value of offering services in the “care arena” – supporting second opinion navigation, condition research, medical decision making, building a medical team or facilitating communication with one. But when I ask about insurance services, a typical response is…