Advancing A Unified Vision for Patient and Health Care Advocacy

The Coalition of Health Care Advocacy Organizations (CHCAO) is committed to strengthening and unifying the advocacy profession across all settings and payment models. With the emergence of Medicare-funded pathways and other third-party payment structures, CHCAO urges stakeholders to focus on ethical standards, credentialing, and collaborative infrastructure—not ideological divisions. Our latest position paper, Building Bridges: Unity and Vision in a Diversifying Advocacy Landscape, affirms multiple practice models while emphasizing the need for training, safeguards, and professional cohesion to ensure equitable access to high-quality advocacy services for all. 

• Practice Model Diversity: Affirming the value of both independent and institutional roles in delivering advocacy services.
• Access and Equity: Expanding availability of qualified advocates through sustainable, inclusive career pathways and funding models.
• Professional Safeguards: Promoting credentialing, ethical guidelines, continuing education, and clearly defined scopes of practice across all models.

“We do not have to agree with every model to support the right of advocates to choose how they work. Let us build bridges, not walls, between practice models.”

For inquiries, contact us at info@chcao.org.