Business on the Bluff: Advocates for Healthcare

Article by Erik Hollander

Advocates for Health care is a Concordia spinout company, affiliated with the school of business and CU Ventures. At Advocates for health care, Inc., we are making the healthcare industry more affordable and accessible. We offer transparency and the opportunity for patients to truly understand what they are getting out of their healthcare plan. In order to support and accomplish this work we employ a three-legged approach, connecting Medical professionals, smart agents & advisors, and advocacy services all to support the patients.

The medical professionals are the direct primary care (DPC) clinics that provide patients with the medical care they need. The smart agents & advisors support the patients on the insurance aspect, if and when insurance is needed and used. As advocates for health care, we support the patients by providing them access to these tools.

One aspect of this is direct primary care (DPC) providers. These providers, typically physicians, focus on providing medical services and telling patients upfront what the cost of any service may be. They also provide additional quality time and a better experience with patients. Another aspect is the smart agents and advisors that are able to find health insurance plans depending on the needs of the patient. Whether this is a catastrophic plan or full coverage, our agents and advisors will find the best plan for the patient. The last aspect is the advocacy service

This service is here so the patient is able to have someone on their side. They will help find the best prices and services for each patient and make sure that the patient is getting the best quality care.

Next, our Advocates mission: Healthcare is a complicated yet necessary part of every person’s life. Insurance companies and healthcare providers don’t communicate well with each other which creates confusion for the patients. With a system that is the opposite of user-friendly, tackling all of the information can be a daunting task. As advocates, our goal is to communicate on your behalf in order to determine copays, navigate all information, and more.

Finally, we accomplish all of this by taking a synergistic academic approach that works to train young aspiring men and women to prepare themselves to work in the healthcare industry. We partner with Universities across the country (including CUS students) who work as interns (paid) or externs (course credit) to obtain hands- on, on-the-job training through mentoring and coaching from the Advocates Leadership Team and other strategic partners across the country.