There are two patient advocacy foundations that you should know about:  

  • The National Patient Advocate Foundation (NPAF) team works at the local, regional, and national level advocating for better access to affordable, quality health care for people with chronic or life-threatening illnesses.  
  • The Patient Advocate Foundation (PAF) team provides patient services with the goal of removing obstacles to accessing quality healthcare. They provide various services and programs to help patients with chronic or life-threatening illnesses.  

While PAF focuses on the patients and caregivers, NPAF collects the PAF experiences to help drive change within the overall healthcare system.    

Valuable information on their websites 

The PAF website provides information about the support they provide, how to contact them, and who qualifies for their help. The two actionable sections of the PAF website are the Connect with Services and Explore Our Resources. The Connect with Services section covers the services and programs they provide and contact information to start working with them. Explore Our Resources has the Education Resource Library that provides applicable advice and guidance on obtaining care or insurance, understanding disability programs, learning about healthcare cost-saving techniques, and more. 

The NPAF website provides information about their organization, their mission, and what they are doing. This website has helpful information in the Patient & Caregiver section. For example, the How to Choose a Plan subsection provides guides that help collect the information you need to sign up for and choose either a Medicare or Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance plan. This subsection also covers other topics about insurance and related considerations.  

Help with care planning 

Also, on the NPAF website under the Patient & Caregiver section is a Care Planning subsection. Care Planning explains what a care plan is and why they are important. There is a step-by-step guide that leads you through the process of creating a care plan. The care plan you create is a means to communicate your wishes to your healthcare providers. Also, a care plan can provide your family with information they need to help take care of you and speak for you if you can’t.  

No one wants to think about bad things happening in their lives but sometimes they happen and it is better to be prepared. The care plan documents on the website help you build a care plan for you and your loved ones. For parents, particularly young parents, care planning is not something you typically think about but in case of a medical emergency the plan can help guide the family in making medical decisions.  

 If you are interested in developing a care plan or partnering with NPAF to develop a care plan, Cradle 2 Career (C2C) can connect you with a local advocate. To learn more about these foundations, go to the NPAF and PAF websites: