Healthcare Liaison Blog » NAHAC

An Amazing Conference

Joanna Smith — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 23:13:08 +0000

The National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants just finished its second Annual Conference last week in Washington DC. It was an amazing three days, packed with extraordinary speakers, networking opportunities and workshops. The Conference will be available in a week as podcasts on the NAHAC web site (www.nahac.com). Members of the Association will be able to listen for free. Not yet a member? The Association is open to professional advocates and the general public; you can join easily at www.nahac.com.

It’s Going to be a Wonderful Conference…

Joanna Smith — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 03:17:15 +0000

I am delighted to announce that the 2nd Annual Meeting of the National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants (NAHAC) is fully organized and scheduled for Washington DC, November 4-6 2010!

Everyone–Healthcare Advocates, Consumers (that’s all of us who receive health care!) policy makers and legislators—are welcome to attend the three-day gathering of this professional association. The schedule is just amazing:

* Come learn how to set up an advocacy business and tips on developing a marketing strategy

* Listen to expert Healthcare Advocates and Patient Navigators detail case studies and solutions

* Be inspired by “serial healthcare entrepreneur” Tim Godzich who grew a “consumer driven health plan” company (and find out what that means!)

* Delve into the healthcare insurance maze and learn how to master it

* Learn about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) approaches to healthcare

* Understand the complexities of participating in Clinical Trails

* Expand your “tool kit” for navigating the healthcare system for someone of any age

There is much more: visit the National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants (I founded it just a year ago, and we now have over ninety members) at www.nahac.com. Join the Association, come to the Conference and expand your knowledge: See you in Washington DC in November!

The Blog is Back!

Joanna Smith — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:14:22 +0000

After several months absence–and many wonderful developments–I am resuming the Healthcare Liaison Blog! It was a very busy fall…

Healthcare Liaison is expanding the 2010 locations for for its popular two-day workshop “Becoming a Healthcare Advocate: 11 Steps to a New Career in Healthcare”. These workshops are open to consumers, professional healthcare advocates, those teaching in the field and policy and legislative interests. We have new locations!

SEATTLE, WA–January 30 and 31st

BERKELEY, CA–February 27th and 28th

TUCSON, AZ–March 20th and 21st

BOSTON, MA–May 1st and 2nd

The links will take you to the brochure describing the workshop and you can complete payment on-line with a credit card or PayPal. There are still spaces in the Seattle workshop and registrants are eligible for a referral bonus when they “bring a friend”.

In other major news, we have a professional organization! I founded the organization, the National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants, in July 2009 and am now the President of NAHAC for 209-2010. You can read about the Association and join at NAHAC

In November 2009 the newly-formed National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants held its First Annual Conference! NAHAC currently has 62 members and membership is open to everyone: professional advocates, consumers, academicians and policy and legislative participants. Members who were not able to attend the conference can listen to the podcast on the web site and hear workshops on case studies, HIPAA for advocates, insurance-made-understandable and more. to join: NAHAC.

We are holding our second annual Conference in Washington DC in November 2010. Join NAHAC to get the details as soon as they’re released!

First Annual Conference of the National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants

Joanna Smith — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:16:29 +0000

As interim President of the National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants (NAHAC) , I am pleased to announce the First Annual NAHAC Conference. It will be held at the University of California, Berkeley on November 14th and 15th 2009 at the Clark Kerr Campus. This two day event features talented and skilled practitioners in the field of Healthcare Advocacy. The event is open to the public as well as Association members.

To view the conference brochure and register for the Conference go here.
To receive the 25% Conference discount for members of NAHAC, please join the Association and complete your membership payment before registering and paying for the Conference event.

We look forward to seeing you in Berkeley!

National Association Formed

Joanna Smith — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 03:05:19 +0000

I am very pleased to announce the formation of the National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants (NAHAC, www.nahac.com), the organization, as it says on the web page, “dedicated to improving the consumer healthcare experience.” Why NAHAC and why now?

Consumers continue to be overwhelmed by healthcare. Decisions about treatments, choosing and understanding specialists, coordinating care, addressing billing and insurance issues–all of these areas can be overwhelming to someone in the middle of a complex medical situation. While many people are alert to the difficulties that seniors encounter in navigating the healthcare system, people who have very ill babies and children, young adults with new diagnoses of diseases or people of all ages facing surgery or treatment decisions need people to help them navigate through.

But who is doing healthcare advocacy and what are their skills? What are the “best practices” for the profession? how can consumers find someone near where they live? These are the questions a National Association can begin addressing.

Who can join? Everyone with an interest in healthcare advocacy: medical professionals, consumers, academicians, policy makers. But the data base of members is open to the public, who can search without charge for an advocate in their geographic area and read about their particular qualifications to help them decide if the advocate is a good match for what they need. There is only one credentialing program right now in the U.S, and that is run by Healthcare Liaison and is for medical professionals. Will there be one for consumers? What are the skills a heatlhcare advocate needs to have? What about licensing? Join the Association and join the dialogue!

National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants

Joanna Smith — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:19:17 +0000

A frequent occurrence: the phone rings, and a desperate voice on the other end of the line says “I need to find an advocate and I came across your website, but you’re not in my area. Do you know anyone in my state who does what you do?” Up until now, there was no central Association that consumers could go to if they wanted to find an advocate. There will be, effective August 1, 2009.
Because we heard this question so frequently from people in all parts of the country, Healthcare Liaison, Inc. decided to start the National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants. The membership is open to everyone with an interest in the field: consumers, nurses, social workers, physicians, physical therapists, academicians, researchers, and policy-makers.

Membership opens on August 1st

The web site (www.nahac.com) will have a geographic listing of all the members, a searchable database of Healthcare Advocates all over the country and brief biographies of each member so people searching for an advocate can choose one that has the skills they need. And also, Healthcare Advocates will be able to locate each other for peer support and referrals. Come join the Association! The membership page will be open on August 1, 2009, and the first Annual conference will be in Berkeley, CA November 14th and 15th, 2009. Look for details on the conference on www.nahac.com on September 1, 2009. It’s an exciting step in this evolving profession!