Join APHA as an Umbra Associate Member
If you are ready to serve clients as a patient advocate but don’t want the lift of launching your practice, then an Umbra Associate Membership is right for you. Apply today!
We’ll handle the administrative set up, insurance, client onboarding, and billing, and we’ll give you tools to promote yourself to potential clients. You do the work itself to help patients and families navigate their healthcare and/or health insurance.
Benefits of Umbra Associate Membership
- All the benefits of APHA Premium Membership (a $289 value)
- Eligibility for client matching through Umbra Health Advocacy
- No need to have your own website
- No need to have your own company (you can work with us as an individual independent contractor)
- Your own seat in our HIPAA-compliant practice management system; you’ll keep this seat as long as you want while you’re an Umbra member (a $600 value)
- Errors and Omissions insurance coverage for clients you serve through the Umbra Health Advocacy platform, if you qualify* (a $500-1,000 value)
- Free access to patient advocacy training courses through APHA’s sister site, PracticeUP!
- Understanding the Allegiance Factor = FREE, 15 minutes
- Best Practices in Advocacy and Care Management = FREE, 2 – 2.5 hours (a $49 value)
- The Ethics of Health and Patient Advocacy = FREE, 2 – 2.5 hours (a $49 value)
- Foundations in Patient Advocacy = FREE, 8 hours (a $229 value)
- Additional discounts on patient advocacy training courses
- Eligibility for mentorship and apprenticeship programs (additional fees apply)
- Listing in the Umbra Health Advocacy Directory as an Umbra Associate (if and when you’re ready) with the option for direct booking through Umbra (Umbra client fees applied on top of your rate)
- Your own Umbra Health Advocacy email address if you want (a $20 value)
- Access to your own seat in APHA’s Zoom Pro license (a $150 value)
- Access to your own seat in APHA’s Professional Calendly account for added functionality (a $144 value)
ANNUAL RATE = $899
How It Works
As an Umbra Associate Member, you sign on as an independent contractor with Umbra Health Advocacy’s parent company, Consumer Health Advocacy, Inc. and agree to the Consumer Health Advocacy, Inc. Advocate Terms and Conditions and Service Level Agreement.
Overview
In a nutshell, you do the advocacy work and we manage the business side of things. We’ll handle the mechanics of onboarding and serving clients through our HIPAA-compliant portal. We provide you with administrative tools that will help you manage your clients. We’ll help you get set up in the Umbra Health Advocacy Directory so that clients can find you and you’ll be eligible to be matched with clients who hire Umbra to find them an advocate.
Getting Clients
Once you’re an Umbra Associate Member, there are two ways you can get clients**:
- You’ll be eligible to be matched with Umbra clients (people who ask us to find them an advocate)
- Clients can book you through the Umbra Health Advocacy Directory if you choose to be listed
Client Management System
We operate a HIPAA-compliant client portal where we gather client documents and forms. As an Umbra Associate Member, you get access to a seat in our secure platform when you begin serving clients. You can use this portal for communicating with clients, accessing client records, exchanging Protected Health Information (PHI), and sending/receiving messages and other documents.
Getting Started
Step 1. Application: First, complete the Umbra Associate Membership application.
Step 2. Payment: Complete payment. (If you don’t meet the membership requirements, we’ll refund your payment minus a $59 non-refundable application fee.)
Step 3. Background Check: Once we receive your payment, you will receive instructions on how to complete the background check. If you have completed a background check in the past two years that meets the requirements (below), you may submit that instead.
Step 4. Membership Confirmation: After you complete the background check, we will confirm your membership eligibility.
Step 5. Onboarding: Once your membership is complete, we will start the onboarding process. During the onboarding process, we’ll
- Finalize the Umbra Associate Membership Agreement with you, including rates and services you can and want to offer
- Guide you to set up your Umbra Health Advocacy Directory profile
- Train you on our systems, processes, and protocols
Step 6. Providing Services: Once you complete the onboarding process, we will add you to our advocate roster and you’ll be eligible for client matching based on our matching criteria. There are no guarantees about when or how many clients you’ll be matched with; that depends on overall volume of client requests and whether you have the expertise they need. If you choose to be listed on the Umbra Health Advocacy Directory, clients can begin to find you there and book your services that way.
**Umbra Health Advocacy does not guarantee any number of clients or any level of revenue from Umbra clients.
Requirements
- Demonstrated track record or experience as an advocate or in healthcare role (paid or unpaid)
- Completed application
- A background check completed during the past two years and including seven or more years review for criminal record (state and federal), a review of any sex offender registries in your area with a statement from the checker affirming that no offenses were found, and a review of any healthcare-related licenses you have held in the past seven years with a statement from the checker that no sanctions were found OR we will process your background check. You must pass a background check each year that you serve Umbra Health Advocacy clients.
- *Attestation that there have been no claims against you in the past seven years and that you do not know of any potential claims outstanding OR disclosure of such events via the Umbra Associate Membership application.
- Execution of the Umbra Health Advocacy Associate Membership Agreement
- Satisfactory performance of work conducted for Umbra Health Advocacy clients, including agreement to the Consumer Health Advocacy, Inc. Terms and Conditions, Service Level Agreement, and Umbra Health Advocacy HIPAA Agreement with clients
- Commitment to uphold professional standards for patient advocates by signing the Code of Conduct & Professional Standards for Professional, Independent Health & Patient Advocates.
The Umbra Associate membership is for you if you are ready to be an advocate and want the tools and resources and support to thrive.
FAQs
Lots of people are qualified to be patient advocates. Maybe you’ve been a practicing nurse or doctor or other clinician or you’ve had an administrative role in a healthcare or insurance setting. Or maybe you’ve advocated for yourself or a loved one and now you’re the one people in your life turn to for help navigating their healthcare.
But not everyone who is qualified to provide advocacy services wants to start and run an independent advocacy practice. The business side of things can seem overwhelming. That may not be how you want to spend your time.
Umbra Associate Membership allows you to provide advocacy services without setting up your own business. We take care of the business functions for you:
- Support for client development
- Client onboarding
- Client billing
- Insurance
- And more
Umbra Associate Membership costs $899 per year. The membership dues are non-refundable, unless you do not meet the requirements. In that event, we will refund the membership dues less a $59 non-refundable application fee. Membership dues recur annually. Renewal rates are subject to change but we will notify you in advance of any rate changes.
Yes. You may cancel at any time for the following year. We do not offer refunds for the current membership year.
Yes. If you decide you want to switch to an APHA Premium or Premium +ADL Membership, we will prorate your Umbra Associate Membership dues and apply them on a prorated basis to Premium or Premium +ADL membership. There is no credit toward PACE Membership if you decide you no longer want to be an Umbra Associate Member. Contact membersvc@aphadvocates.org to make this change.
We have set rates for the packages we sell on Umbra Health Advocacy. We base those rates on your qualifications and expertise and our package pricing. On the Umbra Health Advocacy Directory, you set your own rate, which can be different than the Umbra package rate. We can help you with that if you don’t have a set rate already.
We cannot predict or guarantee any number of clients or level of revenue. Umbra Health Advocacy launched early in 2023, building on the Alliance of Professional Health Advocates (APHA) and its AdvoConnection Directory. Because Umbra itself is new, we are still building our client pipeline and projections.
Umbra Health Advocacy uses a variety of approaches to spreading the word about our services, from digital marketing to partnerships.
