One reason I chose to become a patient advocate is to help adult children of aging parents as well as the aging spouses navigate the mucky waters of our health care system. Families with special needs children or those that have grown into adults still needing some assistance. Where does one go to find out where to get resources? How does it work? What’s available in my area? I just need someone to help me because I don’t live near my parents and I want to make sure they are well taken care of. I feel guilty not being there but I have my own family to take care of. It is so hard and often frustrating. What do I do?
If this sounds like something you or your client’s think about, we are taking the next step to help.
If you provide services to support our seniors or our families with special need children or adults, please reach out and consider a conversation with us. We can help spread the word on your available resources.
If helping those to be successful dealing with health issues at home or providing solutions when is the right time to consider a higher level of care such as Assisted Living or Skilled Nursing Home then we want to invite you to be part of our directory. P.A.M. Patient Advocate Match.
As an R.N. Patient Advocate, I can only help so many people. My business partner and I, Linda Kritikos co-own Your Nurse Advocate Consulting, LLC and have co-authored the book “Cracking the Hospice Code, Your Nurse Advocates Debunk the Top 10 Misconceptions of Hospice”. We have a combined 80 years of nursing experience but again we can only help so many clients when the needs across the country as so great! Our area of expertise include; home health, emergency nursing, hospice, case management, acute care, utilization review, (working with insurance providers a lot!) quality and more. This experience will allow us to put together the most comprehensive directory to meet the needs of all of our clients.
WHY P.A.M?
Recently, my own mom was faced with a health challenge she needed help with. Her pain doctor recommended a surgical procedure that could be done as an outpatient. Her Medicare Advantage Plan denied the surgery saying it was not approved by Medicare. With a bit of research, I found out it was approved in 2016. We reached out to the equipment company that makes the product used in the surgery and found out they were having issues with this particular insurance company and have taken them to court previously and won.
“Let’s do it”, I told them, and it was at no cost to my mom. Well, the story goes that we won. The insurance company lost. Unfortunately, that was not the end of the story. We still needed authorization from the insurance company to move forward. They declined again and based their decision on the fact that they were going to appeal the decision to the Medicare Appeals Board. This would tie it up for months. As much as I didn’t want to my mom’s health comes first. During open enrollment this year we switched her to a new Advantage Plan. She sees a new doctor the end of this month. Her previous Advantage Plan was now officially off the hook. In the meantime, we have had to get my mom a scooter and meals on wheels because she can’t stand long enough to make her own dinner due to her pain. How is the average person supposed to get through these weeds?
For this reason, P.A.M. was born. There are other sites out there where you can find some resources or private caregivers but we want to be different. We want to vet all resources which may include looking at Medicare Compare Scores, references, testimonials, etc. I am literally putting my name on this and want to offer not a laundry list of services but the best of the best. Someone or a company that I would use for my mom or mother-in-law.
BETA PHASE
The directory is in Beta phase and I am looking to gather a minimum of 100 resources in the next 2 weeks. A lofty goal but I want to move forward as quickly as possible because there are people out there that need these services. The plan is to launch by 2nd quarter and for the beta phase we will offer until launch, listings at no charge. After launch there will be levels of membership to be on the directory based on length of time to be listed as well as how much autonomy you would like on the site. We will have a way for you to log in and update your listing as desired. You can list specials, sales, coupons etc.
EDUCATION
Another important part for me to include in P.A.M. is education. Whether it is medication solutions, managing symptoms of Alzheimer’s, home supplies, hiring private caregivers or using an agency, or to hiring a Patient Advocate to help you sort through the maze and red tape of healthcare. We can help you put a plan in place that will ease the client’s or family’s minds. What this means is that all of our directory listings will have an opportunity to share information and education. Each listing will have an opportunity to share via our podcasts, blog posts and videos to support our clients. We want to serve those that need our assistance. In the last two years healthcare has turned into a jungle. Long waits in waiting rooms, people being boarded in the Emergency Rooms because there are no available beds in a hospital and no ICU beds available for those that may need Intensive Care. Together, we can make a difference by making this directory as robust as possible and serving as many as humanly possible.
If any of this resonates with you, please reach out and learn more about how the directory can help you and your loved ones. You can help by suggesting the types of services you would like to see in the directory.
As a company or individual that can serve our clients, please reach out and we will send you our PDF on the Beta process. We can get you started on becoming one of our listings. We will also include the PDF as a file on the blog post.
So much to do and so little time. We will get there. We want to offer “The Right Resources for the Right Reasons.”
Do you see the value in the Directory? Will you join us?
BETA PHASE PROPOSAL PDF
Sincerely,
Pam Dunwald, RN
Patient Advocate Match, LLC
Your Nurse Advocate Consulting, LLC
While the website is being built you can email me at: [email protected] or [email protected]
