Program Overview

The Healthcare Consumer Advocacy Professional Certificate prepares you to help patients and their families navigate the public and private healthcare system.

The Need for this is Now

As medical options multiply and health care costs and payment plans grow more complex, the need grows for specialists to navigate between these domains.  High-deductibility health insurance plans, health savings accounts, and the wealth of plans, options and competing claims demand expertise in a diversity of fields.  While professional advocates have emerged, there are few programs designed to prepare students to enter the field.  

Are you ready to transform confusion into empowerment?

The program’s goals are to provide you with the research and decision making tools to become a credible guide to others in maneuvering through the complexities of present day health care systems. Empowering a patient with the ability to make educated, realistic and value-based decisions is what good patient care is all about.

Once you graduate you will have the knowledge and research skills in areas such as ethics, economics of healthcare, conflict resolution, family dynamics, working with medical teams, spiritual issues, physiology and disease and end of life decisions. The framework of the nine-month class offerings is based upon the Identified Domains of Practice developed by The Society for Healthcare Consumer Advocacy of the American Hospital Association.  These can be accessed on the website (www.shca-aha.org).

As a professional in this field you would be of benefit to hospitals, private and public healthcare agencies, families and individuals. Organizations would increase the quality of patient care by having you as a guide.

Is this program right for you?

The program is open to those individuals with previous healthcare knowledge and experience. Applicants must have completed a bachelor’s degree and pass a background check before beginning the program. You can download the application here. If you have questions please contact Jane Brown at 937-769-1877 or email her at jbrown[a]antioch.edu.

Competencies And Career Possibilities

With your AUM Healthcare Consumer Advocacy Certificate, you’ll be qualified to:

• Assess medical situations and facilitate open dialogue.
• Navigate complex situations and help patients make informed decisions.
• Research databases with up-todate healthcare information.
• Work in hospitals, with public and private healthcare providers,as well as with families and individuals.

Title Sponsor

As the Title Sponsor of the Healthcare Consumer Advocacy Program, Greene Memorial Hospital has made a five-year commitment of $25,000 per year  to sponsor three scholarships for its employees and support for the development of the certificate. We are thrilled and appreciative of Greene Memorial's support of this exciting and important new program.