How to Become a Healthcare Advocate feat. Melissa Paige

Melissa Paige is the co-founder of the Healthcare Advocate Summit. This summit was created to combine everything Melissa and co-founder Elizabeth Johnson enjoyed about conferences and include everything they missed in prior conferences. The Healthcare Advocate Summit is full of exciting events, like karaoke, dinner parties, and speaker panels, where advocates can interact with each other, find friends, let their guards down, and relax around other people who understand their roles. DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical or health advice. This podcast does not substitute medical treatment. Always consult a doctor or dermatologist regarding medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment.With a licensed pharmacy tech background, Mesliaa enjoyed working in pharmacies and learning to handle difficult conversations with patients. Melissa Paige explains how she learned to “mirror patients” and gained a deeper empathy for patients. After taking a break from pharmacy to care for a loved one, Melissa discovered another level to being a health care advocate. Melissa explains how biologic coordinators and healthcare advocates do what needs to get done, including hour-long calls to insurance companies to get the required medication. Melissa has found that most people work in healthcare because they’ve had a personal or family experience that drew them to help others. ADVERTISER: Looking to equip your dermatology office staff better? Work with BC Educators offers in-office training and virtual biologic coordinators to create a single point of contact for everything from prior authorizations to prescription acquisition and patient follow-up. To ensure patients have access to the medications they need, visit bceducators.com.To learn more about the Healthcare Advocate Summit or attend, visit https://www.healthcareadvocatesummit.com/. Remember that you are an advocate! Melissa Paige believes that everyone along the journey from patient to physician is a healthcare advocate, including medical social workers, healthcare workers within the system, reimbursement managers, independent treatment workers, family members, and office staff.