Friday, August 19, is National Patient Advocacy Day and the providers and staff at Center for Spine and Orthopedics want you to know that we are here for you. Center for Spine and Orthopedics is always happy to celebrate those who give so much to our community and we send a sincere thank you to every single patient advocate. Continue reading to learn more about National Patient Advocacy Day and how this holiday educates patients, survivors, and carers about access to care as well as navigating the system and their resources.
National Patient Advocacy Day is observed on August 19, and this year is no different. There is no secret that the healthcare system can get complicated and downright confusing. Hospitals and healthcare personnel are overburdened and tasked with performing jobs that inevitably take time away from patient care. Here is where patient advocates come in to offer assistance. National Patient Advocacy Day was established to raise awareness about the services available to healthcare facilities, particularly those related to Medicaid eligibility. Additionally, it assists patients with healthcare coverage issues, such as filling out eligibility and enrollment documents.
History
Patient advocacy is a field of medicine that focuses on advocating for patients, survivors, and carers. A patient advocate can be a person or group concerned about a certain set of conditions. In the United States, patient advocacy began in the 1950s as a result of advances in cancer research and treatment. However, patients and their families raised ethical concerns about the diagnostics, treatment techniques, and clinical research undertaken in the early days of cancer treatment. In this medico-legal and ethical debate, the practice of advocacy arose to support and represent patients.
As the Patient Rights movement grew in the United States, the 1970s were a pivotal period for patient activism. The National Welfare Rights Organization’s (N.W.R.O.) materials for a patient’s bill of rights, for example, impacted many other organizations and writings at the time, including the Joint Commission’s hospital accreditation requirements in 1970 as well as the American Hospital Association’s Patient Bill of Rights in 1972.
Individual patient advocacy gained traction in the early 2000s in the United States and ten years later in Australia. The profession is now regarded as a mainstream alternative for improving hospital and community-based healthcare results. DECO Recovery Management established this day in 2019 to raise awareness about the services available to healthcare facilities, particularly about Medicaid eligibility.
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Complete and original article published on nationaltoday.com
