Our Board-certified Patient Advocacy in the State of Florida works directly with clients to:

• Help understanding of the financial impact of decisions including Medicaid and VA Aid & Attendance planning with asset protection.
• Build care-partner teams including family and friends who can help clients follow treatments and medications, physical therapy, and nutritional recommendations. We create unique teams with loved ones and professionals who are experts in their field.
• Help navigate through complex health care systems. We assist clients to coordinate care among many clinicians, settings and affiliated providers.
• Empower our clients to ask questions by coaching which questions to ask of whom.
• Ensure clients understand treatment options and who can deliver them (and to seek second and third opinions, when appropriate).
• Coordinate and attend appointments with medical providers and other support services.
• Address any safety concerns during transportation, doctor visits, home care, assisted care and daily life.
• Assist understanding and coordination of discharge summaries.
• Teach clients to use an organization technique (ex. – a planner, phone app, or 3-ring binder). We help clients to keep a file of all the current diagnoses and treatments when seeing multiple doctors, and to report these to each provider so they are aware of current, past or upcoming treatments. 
• Ensure all consents are complete so providers have permission to communicate with each other and that the advocate can communicate on the client’s behalf, if necessary.
• Communicate with the primary care physician what happens at each appointment with specialists, therapists, etc., as well as to create a list of all medications for each visit.
• Ask for pharmacists to review medications for interactions any time a new medication is added or changed.
• Learn if the health organization offers any case-management or care-coordination services that can help. (If within the same system, appointments could be coordinated so that the client can go to one appointment after another in the same place.)
• Plan care transitions to ensure continuity of care, clarify the current state of the patient’s health and capabilities, and review medications when discharging (especially to a rehab facility or nursing home).
• Empower clients by providing them with choices about transition strategies.
• Develop straightforward plans for managing care in new settings.
• Ensure care partners and other support persons receive the education they need to be successful.
• Make arrangements to obtain needed medical equipment.
• Find needed in-home supportive care.
• Find and retain relevant community agencies and professionals.