Patient Advocacy Growing Arizona Business

Hiring help to get you through the hospital process is a growing trend that is emerging in Arizona and across the country according to this article. "As hospital care grows increasingly complex and medical errors kill some 100,000 Americans every year, a whole new industry is forming to deal with this disaster — offering hired help to get you through your hospital stay alive....Arizona — with the nation's longest ER wait time and an extreme shortage of doctors and nurses — should prove fertile for the fledgling business." Family and friends can perform the function of sherparding a patient through their treatment at a hospital particularly if they are familiar with the patient's medical history. "But the services of paid advocates are automatically exclusive — available only to those who can afford them. That troubles many in this new business, and sets the stage for scams and frauds targeting vulnerable, often elderly patients.
Patient Care Advocates charges an upfront fee of $1,895 for two years of patient advocate service, available whenever it's needed. They say that does not cover their actual expense of performing the service, which is supported by the other part of their business, home health-care services." However, some US corporations have added this service to their employee health care plans which appears to indicated continued demand.