I am excited to share my latest publication, The 2021 Special Report: Stepping Up to Certification. This Report is an updated version of the 2018 Report.

I originally wrote this Report because I wanted to have a document to send to those looking to Step Up to Certification. Initially, it was only about Case Management Certification. But over the two years, two new certifications came into focus, the Professional Patient Advocate Certification and the Beryl Institute’s Patient Experience Certification, and I wanted to include them as they complement the other certifications.

To get the most accurate information on each Certification, I contacted each of the certification bodies and asked the leadership to answer a series of questions. I used their answers to develop the Report. The goal is to provide information about each Certification directly from the organization supporting it so you can decide for yourself which Certification best for you.

The Report has been extremely popular over the years, so I felt it was worthwhile to update it. Besides the various certifications, I added several articles that correlate to the multiple certifications that will drive home the information that those who want to Step up to Certification can use.

I hope you will take the time to review the entire Report and share it with others who would benefit from the information. Even if you are already certified, the articles throughout the Report will be helpful to you.

One article I am asking everyone to read and reply to me on how you show your value in the work you do. The article starts on page 73 and is titled:  A Call to Action: Reporting Data to Amplify Your Voice. The article was co-written by myself and Kayoko ‘Ky’ Corbet, MS, RN, BCPA. Ky, actually, is the person responsible for sparking this idea. We met at the International Conference on Patient Advocacy (ICOPA) in 2019 and talked about how we (as Nurse Advocates) needed a valid way to show our value.

The Premise: 

With so many national certifications in place for ‘helping professionals’, it begs the question, are we making a difference? Do the people we work with, the patient, the family, the healthcare team, the leadership in hospitals, managed care organizations, employers, and legislative leaders know the impact on the people who use the healthcare system? Do they know who you are and what you do?

Today there are more people than ever in place to ‘help’ people navigate the complex healthcare system. Yet, quality ratings in national polls show the United States consistently places low compared to the rest of the world while healthcare costs continue to soar. Despite being the wealthiest country globally, we still have not found a way to provide safe, equitable care for all.

The recent pandemic is highlighting the gaps in our system. Thus, this call to action! You know the healthcare system is moving from a ‘pay for service system’ to a ‘value-based pay system’. This means that providers who provide services and do procedures will be paid based on value and not the things they do’.

How does this apply to YOU?

Today, more and more people are in place to ‘help’ people when they enter the healthcare system. I am calling them ‘helping professionals”. You will recognize various helping professionals as case managers, care managers, patient advocates, health advocates, community health workers, and patient experience professionals.

‘Helping professionals’ do not provide direct care but are in place to advocate for every patient when they enter the broad healthcare system. Advocacy can include care coordination, transitions of care, helping the patient/family have a voice in the complex and fragmented system. Some help with billing issues or trying to overturn a denial on a service or treatment that might have been denied because of the ‘red tape’ that causes many patient to fall through the cracks of a system built for the healthcare system and not the people who use it.

Helping professionals’ can be paid by the consumer directly, by an employer, a health system, or the managed care provider. Today people know they need help, and they are reaching out to ‘helping professionals’ to educate and help them do research so they can better understand how the healthcare system works.

I propose in the article; A Call to Action: Reporting Data to Amplify Your Voice that ‘helping professionals find ways to validate their work for the people they provide services. They need to show their worth with data that people understand.

The article is meant to start the dialogue to develop data sets that allow ‘helping professionals’ to show value for the work they do in a measurable way.

Click here to go to the Resource Page on my Website, Nurse Advocate. There you will be asked to provide your email and name. Once done, click Download My Report. You will get an email to validate the information and be given a way to download a PDF of the Report.

As I am not charging for this Report, I ask that you put your name and email into the system to capture your information and send you additional materials that I put out from time to time.

Don’t delay; download the 2021 Special Report: Stepping Up to Certification! I look forward to your comments on the Report and on the Call for Action Article.

Have a good week!

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