Is every applicant who applies for
AdvoConnection membership accepted?
Business, Premium and Directory Only (DO) Applications:
Since these members are listed in the
directory for patients to find them and hire
them, membership is not automatic. We review all applications to be
sure the individual or organization is a bona fide
advocacy business. We don't want patients to
question the listings they find. Quality
is more important than quantity.
Only
advocates who are in the business of working
with patients and caregivers are accepted
for these membership. While we recognize the
value of volunteerism (and certainly
appreciate the efforts of those who
volunteer their services to help others),
AdvoConnection memberships are intended specifically to
support those who have committed their
careers to health-related assistance and
advocacy.
• Apply
for a Business, Premium or Directory Only
AdvoConnection membership.
Non-Profit
Organizations
Non-profit
organizations are
listed differently and
many are listed without paying for an
AdvoConnection membership. We review
the credentials of non-profits before
listing them.
•
Apply for a non-profit AdvoConnection
listing.
Patient Advocate Career Explorers (PACE)
Patient Advocate career explorers are not listed in
the patient directory or site.
This is a learning membership, supporting
those people who are exploring advocacy as a
career. All PACEs are accepted into
membership as soon as they have paid their
membership dues.
•
Apply for a PACE AdvoConnection membership. |
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If I apply for one
type of membership, can I upgrade it (or
downgrade it) later?
Yes. You may do either, as follows:
It's quite simple to
upgrade your membership.
Simply contact the administrator by email
(info(at)advoconnection.com) and ask about
upgrading. Your
dues
will be adjusted according to how much time
has passed since you paid for your previous
membership.
Premium members may downgrade to Directory
Only.
No Premium or DO members may downgrade to
PACE (If you were not yet working as an
advocate, you would
not have been accepted as a Premium or DO
member to begin with.)
To
downgrade your membership,
send an email to us at
info(at)AdvoConnection and request a
downgrade. Dues adjustments will take place
according to the refund schedule below, as
follows: Your refund will be
determined, then will be applied toward a
full NEW year of the DO membership.
(example: You request a refund on May
1, about 90 days into your Premium
membership. Your refund for your Premium
membership might be $50. The cost for
a one-year Directory Only membership might be $100 --
you will owe $50 for an additional year and
your DO membership will last until May 1
of next year. |
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What if I see
Premium Membership benefits I'd like to take
advantage of, but I'm a Directory Only Member?
In order to
take advantage of the additional benefits
available to Premium Members, you'll need to
upgrade your membership. You are invited to
upgrade from your membership at anytime
during your DO membership.
Depending on how close you are to your
renewal date, the additional cost will be
pro-rated.
Contact the administrator by email
(info(at)advoconnection.com) and ask about
upgrading. Once you pay your Premium Membership
fee, you'll be able to take advantage of all
the
Premium Member benefits. |
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Directory Listing
FAQs |
What will the advocate listings look like
in the patient directory?
You can link to sample advocate listings
here:
•
Directory Only
Listing
•
Premium
Listing (Business Listings are made up
of multiple Premium Listings) |
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To what extent will I control my own
listing?
You will have control over all
aspects of your listing except for
testimonials. |
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How do testimonials
get added to my listing?
Testimonials may be included on Premium
Members' directory listings. To be sure that
testimonials are genuine, they will be
reviewed and uploaded by AdvoConnection
personnel and not by advocates themselves.
There is a
form on the patient
directory website that allows your patient
or caregiver customers to comment on the
work you did for them. Upon receipt and
validation of comments, we will send the
comment to you for review, and you will be
asked for your permission to include it on
your listing. |
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When a patient
searches for an advocate, who ends up at the
top of their results list?
When you apply and
are accepted as a member, the form fields
you filled out become part of our directory
database.
When a patient (or
caregiver) goes to the directory website
(www.AdvoConnection.com) and
makes a request, they get their results in a
specific order, pre-determined by a formula
we have built in, and pulled from that
database. Here's how that formula
determines the order of results:
It
begins by identifying all advocates who
offer the services the patient needs.
Then it orders them to give to the patient /
caregiver, in this order:
1- Premium
members located in the same zip code
2 -
Directory Only members located in the same zip code
3 - Premium members with the next closest
zip codes - out 200 miles from the patient's
location
4 - Directory Only members with the next
cosest zip codes - out 200 miles from the
patient's location
5 - Premium members
who have designated "anywhere in the US" on
their forms
6- Directory Only members who have
designated "anywhere in the US" on their
forms
If two advocates with the same
membership designate offices in the same zip
code, then they appear alphabetically. |
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Dues, Fees,
Upgrades &
Renewals
FAQs |
How much are the
membership dues for each type of membership?
There are four types of memberships.
The links for each will help you find
current pricing.
•
Directory Only memberships
are available for individuals and businesses
interested in fewer services.
•
Premium memberships will be
open to anyone who is interested.
•
Patient Advocate Career Exploration Memberships (PACE)
are open to anyone who is considering
patient advocacy as a career.
•
Non-profit organizations may be listed
on the
patient website at no cost.
At any time during your Directory Only Membership,
you may upgrade to a Premium
Membership. PACEs may upgrade to a Premium membership. Find more
information about these upgrades above or linked from
your member homepage.
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When are the
membership dues due?
When you receive your membership acceptance
email, it will be accompanied by an invoice
for the membership fee (the invoice will
come from DiagKNOWsis). If you have
applied as a Directory Only, Premium or Business
member, then shortly
after your fee is paid, your listing will go
live on the patient directory.
In all cases, once your membership dues have
been paid, you will
have login access to your Member Homepage.
No fees are invoiced until you have been
accepted as a member of AdvoConnection. |
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If I decide to
upgrade my
membership before my annual renewal, will
you make a dues adjustment?
Membership upgrades include DO to
Premium, or PACE (Patient Advocate Career
Explorers) to Premium. The easiest
way to make an upgrade happen is to log into
your membership homepage, then find the link
on the right to MEMBERSHIP UPGRADES.
Yes, we will make an adjustment to your new
dues. In completing the upgrade, we will
apply a portion of your already-paid dues to
your new cost for membership. The amount
will be simple math - For example, if six
months have passed since your lower-level
membership dues were paid, then half the
amount you paid will be applied to your
upgraded membership - which will then run
for its full year.
And then - to be sure you get your money's
worth - we'll add a month to the end of your
upgraded membership. |
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If I decide to
cancel my membership, will I get any portion
of my membership fees refunded?
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Amount of Refund by
Membership Type |
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PACE |
Non-Profit |
DO |
Premium |
Business |
| Within 30 days of
membership acceptance |
50% |
No Refund |
50% |
75% |
75% |
| Day 31 through Day
180 (6 months) |
No Refund |
No Refund |
No Refund |
25% |
25% |
| Day 181 through Day
366 |
No Refunds |
Refunds are available for some membership dues only, not additional
service fees.
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How do membership renewals work?
Your renewal date will come up annually on
your original date of membership.
About one month prior to your renewal date,
you'll receive an invoice for your next
year's membership. |
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Beyond membership
dues, do you charge additional fees for some
services?
Directory Only memberships incur additional fees for
some of the services not included in their
membership level.
Some specialized services incur additional
fees for any members who wish to take
advantage of them.
Here is the
additional fee schedule. |
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Miscellaneous
FAQs |
Will
there be advertising on the AdvoConnection
website?
Yes, advertising will be be accepted for
both the patient and the advocate membership
websites beginning in 2012.
Advertising information is available from
your
member homepage.
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I see a
News and Resources page on the patient
website. May I submit
information to be included on this page?
Premium members may submit news and
resources for the patient website, the
advocate website or both. Find the
News and Resources request
form linked from your Member Page.
(This benefit is not extended to Directory
Only
members.)
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How did you decide what
extras to offer through Premium
memberships? What if there is a
service
I would like to have that I don't
see on the list?
With more than 20 years experience as a
marketing consultant, an entrepreneur and
business owner,
AdvoConnection's
founder and owner has
assisted businesses for many years.
The list of services stems from that
knowledge and background.
The goal is to make the business aspects of
your work so simple that you can concentrate
on your primary mission - helping patients.
If you have ideas for additional services
you would like to see or take advantage of,
please contact us and we'll review them to
see if they make sense for inclusion with
AdvoConnection's membership packages. |
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Do
you have a question we have not answered?
Send an email and we'll respond:
info(at)AdvoConnection.com
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