Immediate Advocacy
We are the Beneficiary and Family Centered Care Quality Improvement Organization, working to improve the quality of care for Medicare beneficiaries. Our site offers beneficiary and family-centered care information for providers, patients, and families. Welcome!
What is Immediate Advocacy?
How does Immediate Advocacy help people with Medicare?
Immediate Advocacy is a free service for people with Medicare. It is used to help people quickly resolve a problem about medical care or services. Immediate Advocacy often involves Acentra Health helping the patient and the healthcare provider or facility talk to each other. This can happen through a conference call or by Acentra Health speaking on the patient’s behalf.
When To Use Immediate Advocacy
You can call Acentra Health if you have a complaint about the medical care or services you received. Examples of when you can call Acentra Health:
- The hospital staff will not answer your questions.
- Your doctor ordered a wheelchair, but you have not gotten it yet.
- You have concerns about the discharge planning process (you don't have a good understanding of your discharge plan).
Immediate Advocacy Process
Once Acentra Health decides that Immediate Advocacy is right for your situation, you will be asked for permission to share your name and concern with your provider. When Acentra Health calls the provider, we tell them that we have a complaint and that you would like to resolve the complaint through Immediate Advocacy. If the provider agrees, Acentra Health will begin the process. If the provider does not agree, then there are other resources that can be discussed with you which might help you address your concerns.
Acentra Health may use a phone call on your behalf to resolve the complaint. The goal should be a quick and agreeable resolution within a short time frame.
If the provider is not available after you agree to the use of Immediate Advocacy, Acentra Health will call you to discuss your options.
During the Immediate Advocacy process, Beneficiary and Family Centered Care Quality Improvement Organizations (also called BFCC-QIOs):
CAN:
- Listen to you and help you decide if Immediate Advocacy is the best way to address your concern.
- Contact a provider over the phone on your behalf to communicate an issue that you’re having.
- If appropriate, facilitate a conversation between you and your provider so that you can ask any questions or discuss any concerns with them directly.
- Communicate the outcome of your Immediate Advocacy case and offer additional help.
- Explain your Medicare rights and responsibilities.
CANNOT:
- Require the provider to participate in the Immediate Advocacy process or speak directly with you or your family.
- Formally punish or reprimand a provider.
- Investigate or seek damages for an incident that you believe was malpractice.
- Conduct an in-person examination of you or a facility.
- Require the facility to provide services that aren’t covered by Medicare.
- Require the facility to change its operating procedures.
Stopping Immediate Advocacy
If Immediate Advocacy is not right for you, there are other resources that can be discussed that might help you address concerns.
If at any point, Acentra Health finds out information that makes the complaint no longer right for Immediate Advocacy, Acentra Health must stop the process and tell you and the provider that Immediate Advocacy is done.
Watch a Video About
Immediate Advocacy
Talk With Acentra Health About Immediate Advocacy
Click below for the phone number for your state.
What People Are Saying About Immediate Advocacy
"I finished talking to her, and she took care of things and called me back to let me know what was going on.”
“She helped me resolve my issue, which was complicated, and she stuck with me and stood up for me with patience. We were both right, and we got it resolved as we hoped to.”