their bills, and navigate through the health system. “We
also want to mentor them and support them and provide
guidance so that they might set goals for themselves that
they can achieve, whether its having a better relationship
with their physician, getting their blood sugars within a
target range, whatever goal a person would want to set
as far as their health and wellness is concerned,” said
Meeks.
At the moment HealthGuide, LLC offers an initial consul-
tation for about $150. That includes creating a binder with
all of the patients medical information organized in one
place and about two hours of patient education. At the
moment, they do not accompany patients to doctors vis-
its, but are open to doing that in a crisis situation. Instead,
they are coaching patients on how to approach and nav-
igate those visits. The biggest challenge to starting this
type of business, explained Meeks, is that nobody really
knows what it is as there are only a handful of independ-
ent groups doing it. “I think its a pretty broad category
and I think it means different things to different providers,”
said Meeks. “Getting people to understand and to see us
within the healthcare dynamic is one of the big chal-
lenges. Oftentimes youll find that physicians, surgeons,
private practice providers are sometimes a little off put by
new things, so letting them see that we are not trying to
compete in any way, that we are trying to be an adjunct
to the treatment and care they give in the office and the
hospital is important.”
The other challenge has been economic. Starting up any
company in a struggling economy is a challenge, espe-
cially when you are trying to sell something that is still
loosely defined. While some insurers offer some level of
advocacy, none of them reimburse for independent
providers, so it is an out-of-pocket expense for the
patient. Yet, argued Meeks, people pay similar money for
someone to come in and organize their homes. “I hope
the market bears it out. I certainly think that its a valuable
service.”
Whatever it is called and whatever form it takes, it seems
there is a place for advocacy in the increasingly complex
and often confusing realm of todays healthcare. Until
If we dont teach patients
how to navigate for
themselves, this is not
going to work. Weve
fragmented care so much
over the course of the
last decade.
—Laurie Robinson