Patient Advocate

A study out by HealthGrades reports 195,000 in-hospital deaths secondary to medical error. 37 millions records were reviewed for 2000, 2001, and 2002 and deaths averaged 195,000 for this time period. They also found this accounted for $6 Billion in extra costs per year. This study covered all 50 states and four major areas of concern were noted.

• Failure to rescue
• Bed sores or pressure ulcers
• Post operative sepsis
• Postoperative pulmonary embolism

The study also highlights these scary findings.

• Of the total 323,993 deaths among Medicare patients 81 percent, of these deaths were directly attributable to the incident(s).
• One in every four Medicare patients who were hospitalized from 2000 to 2002 and experienced a patient-safety incident died.
• The 16 patient-safety incidents accounted for $8.54 billion in excess costs to the Medicare system over the 3 years studied. Extrapolated to the entire U.S., an extra $19 billion was spent and more than 575,000 preventable deaths occurred from 2000 to 2002.
• Overall, the best performing hospitals had five fewer deaths per 1000 hospitalizations compared to the bottom 10th

Now that you have these scary facts, what do you do about it?

The number one thing you can do to prevent your loved one from becoming one of these statistics is to assign or obtain a patient advocate. There are other things such as checking out your hospital, your medical provider, etc, but even at the best hospital and with the best physicians errors can occur. Our medical system is overburdened and while most medical providers really wish to give you their best mistakes still happen.

A patient advocate is a sort of broad title that encompasses a variety of services for patients.  Services provided include medical assistance, insurance assistance, home health assistance, elder or geriatric assistance and even legal assistance.  A patient advocate speaks, pleads, or intercedes on behalf of the patient.  We help patients and their families with problem situations (like hospitalization) and strive to educate patients, physician and the public on health issues and communication difficulties.

Illness and related hospitalization can be a stressful time for patients and families.  Patients need someone to look out for their best interests and help to navigate the confusing and ever changing healthcare system.  Choose an advocate that can accompany you to tests, appointments, treatments and procedures.  Look for a medical person such as a nurse to help you make sense of the medical jargon and provide information or other opinions.  He or she should be assertive and have excellent communication skills.  Nurses are trained to be patient advocates and nurse case managers, such as myself, advocate for others as our primary job.

When selecting a patient advocate to assist you or your family, consider the following questions:

• Have you handled cases similar to mine?
• What is your background or training?
• Do you have time to handle the work I need assistance with?
• Can you provide me with references?
• Are you on call around the clock or do you have specific hours?
• Are you available for telephonic services?
• Do you provide written reports?
• What are your charges for service?

To read about hiring a patient advocate, check out this article in The New York Times.  There is also a Consumer Reports Health blog about locating a good patient advocate.  Another New York Times article tells a personal story of a patient advocate.  You can read it here.  A Twitter friend of mine, Trisha Torrey, also has a wonderful website and blog about this issue.

To read more about the HealthGrades study, see the PRESS RELEASE or search HealthGrades.com.

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Tagged as: advocacy, advocate, case manager, HealthGrades, patient advocacy, patient advocate