Patient Advocacy Boot Camp
Want to be a professional patient advocate but need help figuring out how to actually do the work? Learn the skills you need in APHA’s Patient Advocacy Boot Camp.
You’ll learn how to:
- Handle initial contact with clients
- Determine if this client is a good fit for you and your services
- Present a contract and get it signed
- Get paid for your services
- Do an in-depth assessment
- Create an Action Plan
- Implement an Action Plan
You’ll get sample tools you can use:
- Email templates
- Contract templates
- In-depth assessments
- Action Plans
Register Now for APHA's
Patient Advocacy Boot Camp
APHA’s Patient Advocacy Boot Camp course is designed to teach you how to work as a patient advocate, from first contact with a potential client through the end of the engagement.
WHAT YOU GET:
- Comprehensive instruction – 6 structured lessons plus facilitated Q&A with practicing advocates (Up to 2 hours each)
- Flexible schedule – Sign up for sessions that fit your schedule (Take all 6 in one month or go at your own pace)
- A Toolbox with sample resources to use and adapt in your own practice
- Assessments after each lesson to test your knowledge along the way, plus a final assessment to put it all together
- CEs toward BCPA recertification
- Includes PACE membership if you’re not already a member
HOW IT WORKS:
- The complete course includes 6 online lessons.
- Lessons include structured instruction plus facilitated live Q&A.
- Each lesson is offered live online and lasts between 1 and 2 hours.
- Lessons are designed to be taken in sequence (1 through 6), but you can take them at your own pace. Complete the full course in 1 month or space the lessons out over time. There are no fixed deadlines or schedules. You can progress through the content as quickly or as slowly as you like.
- Each lesson will be offered roughly each month (some months will be off).
- You can attend any of the live options. Check the calendar for session options.
- Support is available.
Boot Camp Course Curriculum & Instruction
This lesson presents an outline of what patient advocates do, the pathways into advocacy, and professional codes of conduct and ethics. You will learn ways to apply your current knowledge to a career in patient advocacy and what a day in the life of a patient advocate looks like. This lesson sets the stage for the Boot Camp course.
You’ll learn how to field initial client contacts, how to conduct inquiry calls, what to say to potential clients, what questions to ask, how to help potential clients get what they need, and how to document these conversations. You will also learn how to identify a client’s readiness for hiring you.
How do you know if a potential client is a good match for you and your skills? This lesson will give you the tools you need to make this determination. We’ll also teach you how to move forward with the first steps in providing advocacy services, which include client contracts and how to receive payment for services.
You will learn how to conduct in-depth client assessments based on open-ended questions and reflective listening. You will receive examples of in-depth assessments and guidance on how to complete them. You will learn what questions to ask and how to ask them. The in-depth assessment sets the stage for the Action Plan, the road map for your advocacy services.
We’ll teach you how to create an Action Plan that you can use to guide your advocacy services. Following a plan will help make your work consistent and efficient. In this lesson you’ll review the steps to putting an Action Plan together and get access to a template that you can make your own.
In this lesson, you’ll learn how to present an Action Plan to a client. You’ll also learn how to implement those steps. We’ll teach you how to assess and reassess your client’s needs, and how to manage their expectations and keep them informed throughout the engagement.
Upon request, we will refund 50% of your payment (less a 5% transaction fee) within one week of payment if you have not logged in to our systems or attended any lessons. We do not provide refunds if you have already logged in or attended a lesson, or after seven days from the date of your original payment.
Meet the Instructor
The primary instructor for this program is Stephanie Schulz, Board Certified Patient Advocate, Certified Senior Advisor, and Certified Dementia Practitioner. Stephanie is also the instructor for the APHA Academy 100 Days to Launch Your Practice course, and an alum of that program. In addition to her education and work experience as an Occupational Therapy Assistant, she also worked as a Certified Pharmacy Technician. Spending 30 years in the pharmacy industry, including 15 years as the General Manager, she oversaw the operations, billing and insurance, customer service, and marketing for two locations.
Upcoming Boot Camp Lessons (all times shown in ET)
September Boot Camp Dates
October Boot Camp Dates
*Check back for more dates, which are added every month.