Health Advocacy - Health Advocates Association

Health Advocates Association

In spring 2006 a small group of Health Advocates came together in Shelter Rock, Long Island, New York to discuss whether there was a need for a professional association of health advocates.

There were at least two specific events that precipitated the Shelter Rock retreat. One was a "Patient Advocacy Summit II" held in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in March 2005. At this meeting, issues of credentialing, professionalization of advocates, development of competencies for the field, and tensions between "lay" and "professional" advocates arose repeatedly.

The second precipitating event was a meeting at the Genetic Alliance conference in Washington D.C. in July 2005. Numerous members of the Genetic Alliance had requested a society or association of disease-specific advocates, offering disease-specific advocates a professional trade association, health insurance benefits and credentialing. The idea was subsequently abandoned by this group after a number of meetings via phone indicated that there was too much diversity in advocate's understanding of what such an organization should entail. In addition, the advocates decided that there was too much difference between disease-specific advocates and 'health' advocates.

The Shelter Rock group determined a need for a Health Advocates Association (proposed name). It would be an organization of individual health/patient advocates not of health advocacy organizations. The Association would be an open membership association with no standardized credentialing, but would adopt a statement of ethical guidelines, to which members would agree to adhere.

The National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants (NAHAC), was created in 2009, and is headquartered in Berkeley, California. The association is having its third annual conference in November 4th & 5th 2011. Of the initial list of members, most are registered nurses and social workers. The planned conference topics include certification and credentialing for this new field.

During the same time period (2007-2009) another organization, AdvoConnection, was established to support private patient advocates wishing to expand their knowledge, establish their credentials, and grow or expand their private health advocacy businesses. The organization has expanded its reach into many aspects of health advocacy including best business and ethical practices of this budding career. Each year AdvoConnection awards excellence in private health advocacy with the H. Kenneth Schueler Patient Advocacy Compass Award, an award named after H. Kenneth Schueler, one of the first health advocates to establish a private practice in the United States.