Resource Links for Patient Advocates

As a convenient service for visitors to the Society for Healthcare Consumer Advocacy website, SHCA has provided the following list of resource links to information beneficial to patient advocates.

SHCA lists these products as a resource for its members and the profession. These listings are not an endorsement by SHCA

Comments and suggestions are welcome and may be directed by e-mail to shca@aha.org.

Continuing Education

Government/Regulatory Agencies

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality - AHRQ is one of 12 agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services

SHCA has partnered with the Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET), also of the American Hospital Association (AHA), and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to offer you free patient and clinic safety resources.

AHRQ's mission is to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of health care for all Americans. They have made the following patient-/practice-related safety resources (one page fact-sheet, brochure, and DVD formats) available through a contract with HRET. Many are bilingual in English and Spanish.

Click for FREE ordering information.
California Department of Health Services - One of twelve departments and one board under the umbrella of the California Health and Human Services Agency CHHS
Center for Medicare Advocacy - Advancing fair access to Medicare and healthcare
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) - Find the Conditions of Participation for Patient Rights
Department of Veterans Affairs - Our goal is to provide excellence in patient care, veterans' benefits and customer satisfaction.
The Joint Commission (TJC)
Medicare - The Official U.S. Government Site for People with Medicare
United States House of Representatives - Locate your local legislator
United States Senate - Locate your state senator

Healthcare Organizations and Associations

Alliance for Health Reform - Provides information to understand the roots of the nation's healthcare problems and the trade-offs posed by competing proposals for change.
American Hospital Association (AHA) - Through AHA representation and advocacy activities, AHA ensures that members' perspectives and needs are heard and addressed in national health policy development, legislative and regulatory debates, and judicial matters.
American Association of Health Plans - Our member companies offer medical insurance, long-term care insurance, disability income insurance, dental insurance, supplemental insurance, stop-loss insurance and reinsurance to consumers, employers and public purchasers.
American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) - Helping millions of individuals and their families every day through mission-driven, not-for-profit organizations dedicated to providing the services that people need, when they need them, in the place they call home.
American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) - Improves healthcare by advancing best practices and standards for health information management and the trusted source for education, research, and professional credentialing.
American Heart Association - Our mission is to build healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. That single purpose drives all we do.
American Medical Association (AMA) - Promotes the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health.
American Nurses Association (ANA) - Advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the rights of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on healthcare issues affecting nurses and the public.
American Public Health Association (APHA) - APHA builds a collective voice for public health, working to ensure access to health care, protect funding for core public health services and eliminate health disparities, among a myriad of other issues.
American Society for Quality - As champion of the quality movement, ASQ offers technologies, concepts, tools, and training to quality professionals, quality practitioners, and everyday consumers.
California Healthcare Foundation - This is where the Patient's Evaluation of Performance California is reported
Center for Patient Advocacy
Families USA - Dedicated to the achievement of high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.
Healthcare Financial Management Association - HFMA helps healthcare finance professionals meet the challenges of the modern healthcare.
Medical Library Association - MLA provides lifelong educational opportunities, supports a knowledgebase of health information research, and works with a global network of partners to promote the importance of quality information for improved health to the health care community and the public.
Mesothelioma Center Doctor-Match Program – provides free information and assistance for mesothelioma patients looking for doctors and treatment facilities.
National Association for Home Care (NAHC) - Representing the interests and concerns of home care agencies, hospices, home care aide organizations, and medical equipment suppliers.
National Coalition on Health Care
National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) - A healthcare information source which empowers patients as consumers to make informed decisions.
National Hospice Organization (NHO) - A support system for the terminally ill and their loved ones.
National Institute of Mental Health - NIMH divisions and programs are designed to emphasize translational research spanning bench, to bedside, to practice.
National Library of Medicine (NLM) - NLM has played a pivotal role in translating biomedical research into practice. It is the world's largest biomedical library and the developer of electronic information services that deliver trillions of bytes of data to millions of users every day.
National Partnership for Women and Families - Dedicated to promoting public policies and business practices that expand opportunities for women and improve the well-being of our nation’s families.
National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems - Represents America's safety net hospitals and health systems.
TAHIT - The Texas Association of Healthcare Interpreters and Translators is a 501(c)(6) non-profit association whose mission is to promote language access within healthcare by facilitating training, education, and communication between government, provider, and individual stakeholders.

Indicators and Data Resources

Association for Community Health Improvement
Commonwealth Fund - The Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation that aims to promote a high performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society's most vulnerable, including low-income people, the uninsured, minority Americans, young children, and elderly adults.
Measuring the U.S. Health Care System: A Cross-National Comparison

Interpretation Services

Legal

Florida Accident Attorney - Dedicated advocacy/law website with a large amount of consumer information regarding automobile accidents, social security disability, brain injuries, and much more!

Patient Communication

Hospitals Care for Communities - Principles & Guidelines for Patient Communication
AHA's Patient Care Partnership - Replacing the AHA's Patients' Bill of Rights, this plain language brochure informs patients about what they should expect during their hospital stay with regard to their rights and responsibilities. The brochure is available in multiple languages.

Patient Resources

Research/Reference

Healthcare Consultation Services

Wendy Leebov is a passionate advocate for creating healing environments for patients, families and the entire healthcare team. A mission-driven expert, Leebov provides outcomes-based consulting services, culture change strategies with healthcare organizations, training and tools for enhancing the patient and employee experience. With more than 30 years of experience and skills in communication, training design and delivery, she is known for making hard skills accessible and motivating people to stretch and apply skills which set them apart.

Author of 12 books for health care, Wendy has now developed two groundbreaking video-based training systems. The Language of Caring System helps staff restore a needed balance between communicating about tasks and communicating empathy and caring. Teams build and hardwire 7 evidence-based communication skills that make their caring felt. The GREAT Every Time System helps teams learn and hardwire evidence-based communication practices for routine situations, that take organizations from being good to GREAT in order to gain the high touch advantage. Wendy’s free monthly e-newsletter - HeartBeat on the Quality Patient Experience - is packed with concrete tips and tools for patient experience champions. Visit Wendy’s website to learn more at http://www.quality-patient-experience.com
Anita A. Woodward - Anita Woodward, president of A. Woodward & Associates, has over 25 years of healthcare management, customer service, and human resources experience. Today, she uses her expertise to help organizations improve their performance by providing a customized offering of Customer Service, Employee Relations, and Organizational Communications consulting services. For a copy of Anita's latest newsletter click here.