Physicians today stand at the intersection of clinical expertise and patient-centered advocacy, navigating a healthcare system that is increasingly fragmented, bureaucratic, and inequitable. Patients now look to their doctors not only for diagnosis and treatment, but also for help navigating insurance paperwork, social services, and systemic barriers.
In this environment, advocacy has become a vital extension of the physician’s role—work that goes beyond the exam room to secure access to quality care, dignity, and justice. For Sermo members and their colleagues worldwide, embracing this role is both an ethical obligation and a powerful lever for change.
What is patient advocacy in healthcare?
Patient advocacy is the active support of a patient’s right to timely, equitable care and the removal of barriers that threaten it. While clinical care focuses on diagnosing and treating illness, advocacy addresses the non-clinical obstacles that can derail a treatment plan.
This might mean writing a letter of medical necessity, appealing a denied claim, connecting a patient with transportation or housing resources, or ensuring all members of a care team are aligned.
For many physicians, this is not an occasional extra—it’s part of the job. In a recent internal Sermo poll of U.S.-based physicians, nearly 80% said they always or often advocate for patients beyond direct care. Only a small fraction reported doing so rarely or never, underscoring that advocacy is a core competency in modern practice.
Distinguishing patient advocacy from traditional clinical care
The difference lies in scope and intent. Clinical care delivers diagnosis, evidence-based treatment, and technical execution. Advocacy removes the obstacles to receiving and benefiting from that care. Both require medical expertise, but advocacy adds skills in negotiation, documentation, and navigating social, financial, and legal systems.
Writing a prescription is clinical care; writing a letter to secure insurance coverage for it is advocacy. Treating a chronic illness is clinical care; connecting a patient to housing or food assistance to improve outcomes is advocacy.
Most importantly, advocacy is proactive—anticipating barriers and addressing them before patients fall through the cracks.
The challenges of patient advocacy: barriers physicians face
Advocacy is rarely straightforward. In another internal Sermo poll, nearly three-quarters of physicians cited limited time during appointments as their biggest barrier. More than two-thirds pointed to lack of resources or institutional support, and about one in five mentioned patient reluctance or communication gaps.
As one Sermo member noted: “No doubt we need more resources and help. Getting doctors to volunteer twice a month on a weekend to run free clinics would be a start… we also need to focus more on our elderly population who have a limited income and cannot afford medications and treatments as a dying and incompetent Medicare continues to disfavor them.”
These barriers are not just logistical, they can also be emotionally draining. When systemic constraints block needed care, frustration builds, and over time, burnout can erode the will to keep advocating.
Actionable strategies for effective physician advocacy
Advocacy becomes more effective when it’s built into everyday practice. By focusing on targeted, repeatable actions, physicians can remove barriers, coordinate care, and empower patients. Here are proven strategies you can adapt to your workflow to make a meaningful difference without adding unnecessary strain to your schedule:
- Write letters of medical necessity: Use clear, evidence-based language and cite guidelines.
- Guide patients through insurance appeals: Help gather documentation and, when possible, handle insurer communications directly.
- Maintain a resource network: Keep updated lists of transportation, housing, food, and medication assistance programs.
- Coordinate across specialties: Ensure all providers are aligned on the treatment plan.
- Bridge communication gaps: Facilitate information-sharing between providers in different networks.
- Teach self-advocacy: Equip patients with the knowledge to navigate their health and systems independently, such as identifying misinformation or the limits of online AI symptom checkers.
Advocacy when time is tight
For physicians balancing demanding careers with young families or other personal commitments, the idea of “advocating outside of work hours” can feel impossible. But advocacy doesn’t have to mean sacrificing evenings or weekends — it can be scaled to fit your reality.
Think small, act strategically:
- Integrate advocacy into your day: Make a quick call to a case manager between patients or send a template letter between patient follow-up calls.
- Use ready-made tools: Keep pre-written appeal letters, resource lists, and referral templates at hand so you can act in minutes, not hours.
- Leverage your network: Share patient needs with social workers, care coordinators, or colleagues who can follow through.
- Go asynchronous: Participate in policy feedback surveys or online advocacy discussions like those on Sermo when it fits your schedule.
Even small, well-placed actions can have an outsized impact. The key is consistency—weaving advocacy into your existing workflow so it becomes a natural extension of your care, without overextending yourself or your family.
The role of the physician advocate: skills and competencies
Advocacy is a professional identity that blends medical expertise with interpersonal and system-navigation skills. It draws on deep clinical knowledge to make evidence-based cases for care, paired with clear, persuasive communication that resonates with non-clinical audiences.
Effective advocates are adept at navigating healthcare systems, understanding insurance processes, and building networks in social services and legal aid. They demonstrate persistence and resilience in the face of denials and delays, and ground their work in empathy and cultural competence, tailoring solutions to each patient’s lived reality.
In short, the physician advocate is part clinician, part communicator, part strategist, and part diplomat—dismantling barriers so patients can receive the care they deserve. That physician-patient rapport empowers patients and builds trust.
The holistic nature of patient advocacy
While advocacy may begin with a single, concrete task such as overturning an insurance denial, it rarely ends there. Effective physician advocacy is inherently holistic, because the barriers to care are rarely isolated. A patient’s ability to follow through on a treatment plan can hinge on factors far beyond the prescription pad: transportation, housing stability, language access, health literacy, digital literacy, or financial strain.
Addressing these interconnected needs means looking beyond the immediate clinical problem to the broader context of a patient’s life. This approach not only improves adherence and outcomes, but also advances health equity by ensuring that care is truly accessible and sustainable for every patient.
Patient advocacy and health equity
Central to patient advocacy is the concept of health equity—the pursuit of fair, just, and impartial treatment for all patients, independent of their social or economic background. Physicians, given their vantage point at the intersection of individual care and the wider system, are not only able but also ethically obliged to address the roots of health disparities. This often means advocating more forcefully for the marginalized: the poor, the elderly, racial and ethnic minorities, and those with limited English proficiency.
Practical physician advocacy for equity includes:
- Identifying and addressing biases in diagnostic and treatment patterns
- Securing interpreter services for non-English speakers
- Ensuring that social and financial barriers are formally assessed during visits
- Championing institutional policies that prioritize high-need populations
By viewing each patient through an equity lens, physicians help dismantle unfair barriers and create a system truly responsive to all.
From individual advocacy to systemic change
Individual acts of advocacy often reveal patterns—recurring denials for the same medication, repeated delays in specialist referrals, or consistent gaps in coverage for certain populations. These patterns point to systemic issues that can’t be solved one patient at a time.
Physicians are uniquely positioned to identify these trends and bring them to the attention of policymakers, professional associations, and healthcare leaders. By sharing real-world examples and data, they can help shape policies that improve access, equity, and quality of care for entire patient populations.
Advocacy at this level requires stepping into leadership roles, whether that’s serving on a hospital committee, participating in legislative hearings, or collaborating with advocacy organizations. It’s about moving from reactive problem-solving to proactive system redesign.
Physicians can amplify their impact by actively participating in state and national medical associations and advocacy groups. National organizations such as the American Medical Association (AMA) and specialty societies also provide resources, strategic guidance, model legislation, and advocacy summits to empower physicians across states to influence health policy at multiple levels. Joining such organizations and participating in advocacy events can enhance physicians’ ability to contribute to meaningful, lasting improvements in healthcare systems.
Physicians are encouraged to call their representatives and join groups such as their state medical societies to raise awareness about systemic problems impacting patients and providers. You can find advocacy groups across the US in the American Medical Association’s Federation Directory.
Taking the next step: collaborating for success
Effective patient advocacy, especially at the physician level, thrives on collaboration. Doctors do not have to shoulder the burden alone; team-based care, interdisciplinary programs, and professional communities can amplify individual impact. Free clinics run by physician volunteers offer one route to expanding access for the uninsured and underserved—a testament to the power of collective advocacy.
Further, joining communities like Sermo gives physicians direct access to peers’ insights, templates, real-world case discussions, and policy advocacy campaigns. In communities like this, physicians can:
- Learn practical advocacy skills from colleagues’ experiences
- Share successful strategies for appeals, resource navigation, and systemic change
- Contribute to ongoing discussions about health equity issues doctors face today
- Mentor and be mentored by likeminded clinicians dedicated to patient-first care.
The Sermo community also enables rapid response to emerging advocacy needs—such as sudden changes to Medicare or insurer policy denials—mobilizing thousands nationwide in pursuit of better, more equitable care.
Embracing the advocate’s mantle
Patient advocacy is a defining trait of excellent physicians. It requires a blend of clinical expertise, communication skill, persistence, and empathy. While the challenges are significant—from time constraints to systemic barriers—the impact on patient outcomes and health equity is profound.
By embracing advocacy as part of their professional identity, physicians can not only improve individual patient care but also drive systemic change. And they don’t have to do it alone.
The Sermo community offers a valuable space for physicians to share strategies, troubleshoot challenges, and collaborate on solutions. By joining the conversation, physicians can tap into collective wisdom, amplify their impact, and become even stronger champions for their patients—important building blocks in providing the best care possible and establishing patient loyalty.
Join Sermo today and be part of a global network of physicians committed to breaking down barriers, improving care, and advocating for patients at every level of the healthcare system.
