Patient Advocacy

Patient Advocacy Module 1   
Advocacy in the U.S. Health System

• Advocacy From Outside the Health System
• Advocacy as an Underground Activity
• Advocacy as an Ethical Imperative
• Seven Common Problems for Healthcare Consumers
• The Poor Law Tradition
• Emphasis on Technology
• Lack of Diversity in Medical Personnel
• Medical Silos and Insular Care
• From History to Case and Policy Advocacy
• Case-Advocacy Interventions
• Eight Case-Advocacy Tasks
• Case Advocacy for a Very Sick Child

Patient Advocacy Module 2    
Case Advocacy Skills

• Reading the Advocacy Context
• Case-Advocacy Triage
• Allocating Case-Advocacy Services
• Diagnosing Task
• Strategizing Task
• Implementing Task
• Assessing Task
• Progression Task
• Nature of Influence
• Empowering Consumers
• Promoting Ethical Conduct
• Ethical Reasoning

Patient Advocacy Module 3    
Quality of Care and Cultural Competence

• Defining “Quality Healthcare”
• Criticisms of U.S. Healthcare in Addressing Illness
• Policy as it Pertains to Quality of Care
• Scenarios Encountered by Consumers
• From Case Advocacy to Policy Advocacy
• Conceptualizing Cultural Competency
• What it Means to Be Culturally Competent
• The Case for Providing Culturally Competent Services
• Policy and Regulatory Thicket
• Policy Advocacy to Promote Cultural Competence
• From Case Advocacy Scenarios to Broader Policy Issues

Patient Advocacy Module 4     
Health Prevention and Financing

• Defining Prevention
• Threats to Health
• Prevention Goals and Strategies
• Barriers to Prevention
• Why U.S. Consumers Particularly Need Prevention
• From Case Advocacy to Policy Advocacy
• Helping Consumers Finance Their Healthcare
• Buck-Passing
• Seniors’ Angst
• Medical Wheel of Fortune
• Ripple Effects of Health Costs and Coverage
• Protecting Consumers With Respect to Health Coverage

Patient Advocacy Module 5
Mental Health and Community-Based Care

• Mental Distress Often Experienced by Consumers
• Who Attends Consumers’ Mental Health Needs
• Why Consumers Turn to Health Settings
• Liabilities in the Policy and Regulatory Thicket
• Scenarios Encountered by Case Advocates
• Helping Consumers Receive Community-Based Care
• Consumer’s Health Ecosystems
• Community-Based Health Services
• Fifteen Case Advocacy Scenarios
• Assets and Liabilities

Patient Advocacy Module 6  
Policy Advocacy

• Importance of Policy Advocacy
• Policy Advocacy Framework
• Surmounting Fatalism, Controversy, and Vested Interests
• Policy Advocacy in Four Settings
• What Advocates Seek to Change
• Using Policy to Embed Advocacy in Health Organizations
• Health Advocacy in Communities
• Policy Advocacy in Electoral Settings
• Policy Advocacy in Legislative and Regulatory Settings
• Advocating for Regulatory Changes
• Establishing a Policy Agenda in Specific Health Settings

**Outlines are subject to change, as courses and materials are updated.**