Advocacy Spotlight
Carey Kempton, MBA
Former President of NAHAC
This month's Advocacy Spotlight shines brightly on Carey Kempton. After serving more than 2.5 years as President of NAHAC's Board of Directors, Carey has chosen not to seek reelection. On behalf of the NAHAC Board, NAHAC Members, and Massachusetts Health Care Advocates (MAHCA) community, we express our gratitude to Carey for all of her contributions, not only to NAHAC as an organization, but also to the Patient and Health Care Advocacy Profession.
Under Carey's leadership, NAHAC has continued to evolve and grow into a robust community of professional healthcare advocates. Carey has served as a key driver in NAHAC meeting its mission: A Health Care Advocate for Every Patient™ with a commitment to improving patient outcomes through the promotion of the health care advocacy profession. Education and collaboration have become foundations of this mission. Under Carey's leadership, NAHAC continued to expand the CE educational offerings to members and non-members with a dynamic set of speakers on a variety of important topics related to health care advocacy.
In 2021, three leading professional societies representing patient and health care advocacy, NAHAC, HealthAdvocateX, and the Patient Advocate Certification Board PACB, came together to form the Health Advocacy Collaborative Ethics Task Force (HACE). The purpose of their first-ever collaborative project was to review and update the Code of Ethics for Patient & Health Care Advocates to align with the current times. Carey was a key member of the collaboration and worked with colleagues to draft the 2022 Revised Code of Ethics for Patient & Health Care Advocates.
In her role as NAHAC President, Carey served as a founding member of the Coalition of Health Care Advocacy Organizations, CHCAO, which was established in the Spring of 2022. As a CHCAO member, NAHAC has played a key part in the collective efforts to advance the Patient and Health Care Advocacy Profession.
Beyond NAHAC, Carey is a founding member of Massachusetts Health Care Advocates (MAHCA), NAHAC’s first regional advocacy group. She initiated the group to bring together local, independent health care advocates to leverage their skills and experience and to promote the profession of advocacy.
In 2014, following personal and professional experiences with the complicated US healthcare system, Carey founded her patient advocacy practice Blue Sky Health Care Advocates, https://blueskyhca.com. She began serving as a private health care advocate for family and friends starting with the coordination and care of her daughter’s battle with pediatric cancer. Over time, Carey's practice evolved and is currently focuses on complicated health insurance and medical billing issues.
Carey, NAHAC thanks you for all of your contributions to the Patient and Health Care Advocacy Profession! We look forward to continuing our work with you as a valued advisor to NAHAC in the coming year.
