Patient advocacy: what is its role?

While there are significant differences in the delivery of health care throughout the world, there is one constant, the patient. Patients' needs vary greatly on the basis of socioeconomic and geographic issues, expected prognosis, family dynamics, health literacy, and many other factors. In the past 20 years, the role of patient advocacy organizations has added an important new dynamic to patient care. Understanding patient advocacy organizations and how to access their services can be beneficial to clinicians, researchers, and patients. Critical issues are (1) closer collaboration and partnership with physician organizations, like PACES, in order to improve individual patient care and the quality of care that physicians are able to deliver; (b) work with physicians, physician organizations, and advocacy groups to measure the impact of advocacy groups; and (3) increase community-based participatory research.