President's Message - Bryan Tipton

Dear Fellow SHCA Members and healthcare colleagues,

I would like to welcome you to the Society for Healthcare Consumer Advocacy (SHCA) website.  As President of SHCA, I am proud of all the wonderful sections we have within our website.  SHCA represents over 900 patient advocates across the U.S., advocating for our children, our elderly, our military brothers and sisters, equality in healthcare, better medical processes, and systems redesign initiatives.  The SHCA website is designed to keep our members informed of the latest and greatest in the field of patient advocacy.

Our 2009 annual conference just passed and what an experience it was.  The conference had dynamic speakers, dynamic programs, dynamic best practices, and dynamic attendees.  It was the best SHCA conference I have ever attended.  SHCA and the Program Planning committee are already preparing for our 2010 annual conference in Pittsburgh, PA whcih will be held from April 13-16, 2010.  This conference promises to be another outstanding educational opportunity for our members, future members, and other professional colleagues.

The 2009-2010 SHCA Board of Directors met on-site at conference and gave our strategic goals a face-lift in light of the current economic times.  We are equally committed to working diligently to meet if not exceed those goals.  SHCA will continue to develop and grow with the assistance of the American Hospital Association.  Our committees will work on recruitment and retention of SHCA members, identifying and securing future webinars, solidifying relationships with vendors, building on our SHCA publications, and keeping abreast of all the latest that is going on legislatively with patient advocacy.

In closing, these are very exciting and exhilarating times for SHCA and the profession of Patient Advocacy.  On behalf of the SHCA Board of Directors, we hope to see you in Pittsburgh.

Sincerely,

Bryan Tipton, MS, RRT, FSHCA
2009-10 SHCA President