The Center for Patient Partnerships - Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions
About Our Advocacy Services

What is "empowerment, patient-centered" advocacy?

Advocacy is a partnership. You have a significant role in advocacy, and will likely need to continue advocating for yourself or family members long after your work with us is complete. Therefore, advocates at the Center will not do all the work - we will work with you to advocate for a better health care experience. You "set the agenda" for your advocacy and we'll provide education and support so you can build advocacy skills. Sometimes you may not be able to provide as much self-advocacy as you would like - during those times we will provide additional support and/or help you create an advocacy network - a group of family and friend who can help you.

What is my role in advocacy?

Significant. Each of us is our own best advocate. Each of us either already knows or needs to identify our own values, what we really care about in our heart, and what we want to prioritize on our health care journey. Advocates at the Center are here to help you develop tools to enhance your own advocacy and to help you focus on your values during your health care journey. See also the answer above to: "What is 'empowerment, patient-centered' advocacy?"

What is the value of working with a student?

Graduate and professional students studying at the Center are seeped in learning about the health care system and advocacy methods. They are eager to learn about issues impacting patients currently trying to navigate the health care system.

Our students are committed to providing the best advocacy they can to their clients and are supervised by staff with significant advocacy experience. These students will soon become professionals working within the health care system - by experiencing health care from your perspective, they will be better providers and stakeholders in the health care, insurance, and related systems.

At the Center for Patient Partnerships, we can help you:

Find reliable information regarding diagnosis;
In medical decision making;
pay for care or work through insurance issues;
answer questions regarding the impact of illness on employment;
explore disability and other benefits; and
think about your values and what is important to you on your journey

For more information, ask for a copy of our "Health Advocacy Services" handout.

How long will I work with an advocate?

We want to help you along your health care journey as efficiently as possible. As an educational center, our advocates are students who provide services on a semester schedule (three to four month blocks). When ever possible, we try to complete all advocacy within a semester time-frame. Your advocate will explain these dates and work with you to create an advocacy timeline. Of course, not all issues can be resolved within a semester timeframe. In those cases, we'll work to smoothly transition your case to another student advocate.

Is my information kept confidential?

Yes. Staff, student, and volunteer advocates all sign a Confidentiality Agreement and receive training about confidentiality and ethical practice. We will only release specific information to identified individuals or institutions as you authorize. If you have additional questions about privacy, ask for a copy of our Information Sheet Re:The Center's Privacy Policy & Authorization for Release of Information

Is there a cost for advocacy services?

No. Our advocacy services are free and available to anyone with a life-threatening or serious chronic illness who is willing to share their journey with a student. In this way, advocacy is provided in exchange for the learning experience you provide students.

While we don't charge for our services, we are able to provide them due to the generosity of individual donors like you - any amount helps - so that we may continue to help others.

Have a question not addressed here? Ask your advocate or email us at cppadvocacy@law.wisc.edu.

Frequently Asked Questions About Our Advocacy Services