Our Principles

All of our work is guided by a set of common principles rooted in our experiences as researchers and advocates:

Empowering the Patient

For us, patient advocacy is guided by one overarching objective: giving clients the information and support they need to make informed choices and receive the highest quality of care possible.  Patient advocacy is about helping clients champion their interests according to their own unique needs and prferences.

Partnership

Part of a commitment to empowering the patient takes the form of partnership. The care many patients receive is fragmented and uncoordinated. When clients ask for our help, we always ask how we can serve as partners to help manage and coordinate their care each step of the way.

Complementarity and Professionalism

As advocates, we seek to complement and support-- not replace or disrupt-- patients' relationships with licensed health-care professionals. We do not believe advocates should give medical advice or interfere with the care provided by licensed providers. Rather, we help our clients identify, locate, and work effectively with those providers who may best meet their unique needs. And when problems arise, we advocate on behalf of our clients with professionalism and integrity.

Transparency and Impartiality

We are committed to full transparency and impartiality in our work. Literally thousands of web sites, advocacy groups, and other entities offer advice about conditions, treatments, insurance products, or providers. In this sea of uneven information, it is often difficult for patients and families to know whom or what to trust. In our research, we always share with our clients our methods for ascertaining that the information and resources we collect are as accurate, complete, and objective as possible. We work fully independently of insurance companies, providers, drug companies, and other industry grups, and we do not accept advertising on our website.

Privacy and Confidentiality

Health Advocacy Solutions is committed to fully respecting the privacy and confidentiality of our clients. The identities of our clients, medical records, and other personal information we may have access to are kept fully private and confidential, except when explicitly stated otherwise by the patient or designated health-care representative in writing.  Information provided by users of our web site, including e-mail addresses and other personal data, is kept confidential and will not be disclosed to third parties. Please see our Privacy and Terms of Use statementf.

An Evidence-based Approach

Health-care knowledge is constantly changing and expanding. While compelling research has led to clear and widely recognized consensus in the medical community regarding the diagnosis and treatment of some conditions, for others there is often debate and uncertainty.  For many researchers, the “gold standard” of compelling evidence is the publication of results from double-blind experimental trials in respected peer-reviewed medical journals. We share in this judgement. However, many potentially promising treatments have either shown ambiguous results or not been yet been systematically investigated. In such cases, we collect the findings that do exist --positive or negative-- from all evidence-based sources to provide the client with as much helpful insight as possible for his or her specific case.