San Jose Mercury News examines health care advocacy business

The AP/San Jose Mercury News on Thursday examined the growth in the number of businesses that are "offering some form of advocacy services to medical consumers."

For example, Health Advocate is a customer call-in center that helps patients "find the right doctor, haggle over insurance coverage and manage other medical system headaches." According to the AP/Mercury News, the health advocacy companies "range from small regional firms operating out of home offices" to those "with national call centers the size of football fields."

Richard Rakowski -- principal of Connecticut-based investment and development firm Intersection, which has researched the health advocacy field -- said that the health advocacy industry -- about six companies currently -- generates annual revenue of about $50 million to $75 million and is on track to becoming a $1 billion industry. According to the AP/Mercury News, the "field is blossoming in the wake of cutbacks in corporate health benefits, an overhaul of Medicare and other changes that have forced medical consumers to shop more for medical care."

Carol Fischer, a spokesperson for Health Advocate, said that most of the demand for the services comes from large employers, not individuals. Fischer added, "The employers are interested because it means their employees are not on the phone taking care of doctor's visits" during work hours (Stobbe, AP/San Jose Mercury News, 7/24).