By Healthcare Brew Staff
less than 3 min read
Definition:
Patient advocacy helps patients navigate the healthcare system, and patient advocates work to protect and be the voice of patients while also educating them.
Who are patient advocates?
Healthcare Brew spoke with board-certified patient advocate Nichole Davis about her role at Wayfinder Patient Advocates, where she isn’t tied to a specific hospital, insurance, or pharma company. She shared that the definition of a patient advocate can range from being an employee at a hospital that helps patients navigate financial options to a doctor that advocates for a patient’s care.
Advocacy groups can also lobby for governmental change, such as lowering the price of prescription drugs. Patient advocates can also help guide patients through screenings, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care after something like a cancer diagnosis.
Patient advocacy’s impact on healthcare
Davis also noted that patient advocacy can potentially help patients avoid wasting money, time, and energy on receiving inappropriate medications, excessive testing, or a misdiagnosis.
“Patient advocacy, in my opinion, is the foundation, the bedrock of all of these changes we want to see happen in healthcare,” she told us.
Related content on Patient advocacy
Nichole Davis, a board-certified patient advocate, on how advocacy affects the healthcare system
Clear Healthcare Advocacy’s Jenni Nolan talks medical billing
