NOTE: I wrote this on August 17th and then got distracted and didn’t post it and apparently have not felt like blogging for a month…. I decided to post the old one and will do a catch up blog. I am alive and well.
I woke up early today with a desire to write. Yesterday I spent much of the day on my computer doing things – finding dog obedience class was at the top of my list. Carli is not used to sharing my attention and by evening she decided to voice her opinion. She maneuvered her super soft couch blanket across the keyboard so she could rest her head on it comfortably – a complete “work block”. She seems to be quite smart – just very stubborn about commands like – “Come”
I am in the process of developing and launching a private health advocacy business. I find great joy in helping individuals understand their conditions, communicate more effectively with health care professionals and understand their evaluations and treatment options. I am very good at this and I think I understand how to stay “out of the lane” of practicing medicine. I have been piloting this service with friends and friends of friends for the past year or so and what I provide seems to be helpful. The challenge for me is that to make a business out of it, I have to start charging for my services. This is where I am STUCK!
I have a logo, a website pretty far along in development and I have joined the Alliance of Professional Health Advocates which has very useful information. I have a mental “to do” list – establish a LLC, get liability insurance and create a client consent form from a really solid example. I have some ideas about fee structure but the biggest hurdle will be getting the words out – “my services will cost you money”. During my years of practice, I was always employed by an entity that did the “charging” and I was very comfortable not thinking about the business and just focusing on patient-centered care. I have more processing to do ,,,,,
One of the books that I listened to while on my travel adventure was – Marty Mackary’s “The Price We Pay”. I highly recommend this for anyone interested in getting a better understanding of our current health care system. I had a clear understanding of how broken it was when I left practice in 2002 but I now realize how limited my understanding was.
Tamara Unleashed 