For Immediate Release
CONTACT:
Diane Fusilli, Director of Public Relations
(914) 395-2218
Marilynne Herbert/Lauren Kaye,
College Connections (212) 734-2190
HEALTHCARE ADVOCATES FILL CRITICAL NEED --
Consumers Turn to Professionals for Help in Navigating Healthcare Maze -
Bronxville, New York - March 11, 1998 - Changes in managed healthcare are creating pioneering roles for healthcare workers. This is happening against a backdrop of President Clinton's call for a national patient bill of rights and movements by several states to draft consumer protection bills for managed-care participants.
"The increasing complexity of the nation's healthcare system has caught more and more people in the middle," Joan Marks, director and founder of Sarah Lawrence College's Health Advocacy Program, the nation's only master's degree program in health advocacy. "Consumers are beginning to have serious questions about the intentions and integrity of everyone involved in healthcare, and they need help negotiating the healthcare delivery maze."
The need for trained people to represent the consumer is being fueled by national and state debates over managed care and consumer rights. President Clinton recently signed an executive order that will affect health plans covering more than 85 million workers, including 9 million federal workers, 6 million Defense Department workers and 3 million veterans who receive health care through the VA. Many states, such as Maine, Massachusetts and New York, are introducing consumer protection bills for managed-care participants.
In addition, some states, such as Ohio and New York, are creating a managed-care ombudsman to ensure that consumers get accurate, current and understandable information about managed-care plans. These programs would provide a hearing by third-party health care professionals to review appeals if treatment is denied, reduced, or terminated. The New York bill calls for a state ombudsman program that would include a network of local, community-based agencies to provide direct help to all health-care consumers.
In this context, students in the Sarah Lawrence Health Advocacy Program can expect to find a wide variety of jobs, says Marks. Many will become patient representatives, hospital administrators, health educators, and consultants to community groups. Others will staff health agencies, serve as members of ethics committees and medical policy boards, and will serve as architects for legislation to protect healthcare. Still others will find work combating the problems associated with larger social issues, such as inequities in the insurance industry and lack of basic information about health maintenance and disease prevention.
"The Health Advocacy Program at Sarah Lawrence provides a truly unique approach to the study of health care," says Janice Levy, director of the patient representative department and associate hospital administrator at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. "Unlike other advanced degree programs, Sarah Lawrence's program focuses on health care from the patient/consumer perspective. The program defines advocacy in a way that enables graduates to work creatively and effectively in a multitude of settings -- at a patient's bedside explaining a medical procedure, sorting out issues regarding a medical insurance claim, or before a senator's desk discussing legislation."
The importance of training as a health advocate is demonstrated by the success of the Sarah Lawrence graduates. Patient representative programs at major teaching hospitals in the greater New York metropolitan area are staffed by Sarah Lawrence College graduates -- including, Hospital for Special Surgery, Montefiore Medical Center, Mt. Sinai Medical Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Westchester County Medical Center. Graduates also serve in important advocacy roles around the country including the San Francisco Health Plan, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. (See attached list).
"This is a field with definite career opportunities and is well suited to individuals interested in helping others and making a difference," says Marks.
Editors Note: For more information on health advocacy careers and the Master's Degree Program in Health Advocacy at Sarah Lawrence College contact Joan Marks, program director at (914) 395-2371, or Diane Fusilli, director of Public Relations Director (914) 395-2218 or Marilynne Herbert/Lauren Kaye, College Connections (212) 734-2190.
An Open House for the Program is planned for Thursday, April 23rd from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
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