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Patient Navigator LLC
Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., Nationwide
Patient Navigator LLC offers direct patient advocacy and navigation services in Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. and nationwide. Since 2004, Patient Navigator has helped hundreds of clients to solve problems, find resources, conquer the medical maze, design care plans, and learn how to become their own best advocates.
We are here for you if you’ve been shuttled between specialists who don’t listen to you, don’t speak to each other, research your problems or diagnose you correctly.
We are here for you to help with a difficult diagnosis or sudden illness.
We are here to help manage your chronic illness.
We are here to help adult children navigate the care of aging parents.
We understand family dynamics.
We are here to provide competent and compassionate care as you journey through illness and aging.
Our team includes our Board Certified Patient Advocate Founder Elisabeth Schuler; David Schlosser, Director of Medical Research; and Leslie Sullivan, BSN, RN, our nurse navigator for local Northern Virginia care services.
In Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., we work directly with clients to coordinate their medical care, find doctors, accompany to appointments, prepare questions, take notes and brief family members.
Nationwide, our research methodology will equip you with the best, peer-reviewed medical research and treatment options for any diagnosis. We specialize in annotated cancer clinical trial searches. All of our research products are detailed and personalized. We communicate with top doctors, institutions, and researchers worldwide.
Elisabeth is trained in integrative oncology and mind-body medicine by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Mind-Body Medicine. She is a founding member and Past President of the National Association of Healthcare Advocacy Consultants and a Certified Senior Advisor.
Together, the Patient Navigator team brings over 15 years of broad, deep and compassionate experience to our clients and families. Call today for a free consultation.
Ratings
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Although Elisabeth is based in Virginia, she was invaluable in helping my disabled brother who lives in Chicago. He has suffered from treatment-resistant depression most of his adult life. Being disabled and on Medicaid, his options for quality psychiatric treatment are limited. He needed a new doctor but was unable to find a psychiatrist specializing in his condition that accepted Medicare. Elisabeth not only found him a great doctor in the Chicago area, but she also scouted out an experimental but highly promising treatment program that agreed to accept him at a dramatically reduced fee. This was far above and beyond our expectations. If you are confused, frustrated, or struggling to figure out your next step Elisabeth can help you move forward, with great knowledge and compassion.
I am so grateful for Patient Navigator! We contacted Patient Navigator for help finding housing and services for our mentally ill adult son. Elisabeth listened to us compassionately from the first meeting, helping us identify the main issues and goals, which resulted in a re-evaluation of his diagnosis and professional help identifying additional intellectual and developmental issues as well. Elisabeth was a great help in setting up Neuropsychological testing for him and later researching community resources and housing. We were so overwhelmed and did not know where to start. It was extremely helpful to have Elisabeth listen to us and just help us identify the first step, which was the testing. Having an advocate who is knowledgeable, compassionate and organized to do the research, make the connections, and keep everyone on track, was a godsend. Thank you, Elisabeth! Jennifer Cherpes
Elisabeth was incredibly effective in helping us figure out how to care for our 89 year old mother. She is clearly very experienced and competent. She addressed the concerns of all the siblings in a straightforward and compassionate way, and focused our thinking: Is assisted living an option? What are nursing care options and how do we handle that? How does Medicaid/Medicare fit her situation? What happens if our mother falls and cannot return home? In-home care – what about that? Elisabeth came up with a game plan based on our priorities (both emotional and financial), and those of our mother. She allowed us to see our way forward through a difficult situation. Thank you!
We met Elisabeth when my 28-year old daughter was stuck in a Maryland hospital suffering from what appeared to be undiagnosed intracranial pressure, unable to sit up or extend her legs without experiencing severe neurological symptoms and taking steroids in an effort to keep the neurological events from escalating. Elisabeth was alarmed by the lack of urgency with which my daughter’s condition was being addressed by her doctors. She participated in several telemedicine appointments with us, always able to convey the sense of urgency of the situation to the doctors and wrote several e-mails to doctors on our behalf. As a result, we were able to get a referral to a specialist for further evaluation. Our brief encounter with Elisabeth took place within the span of a few days. She did this work for us before we got to the point of officially securing the services of Patient Navigator. She followed up with us several times to make sure my daughter had a plan to address her health issues going forward. In addition to being a tremendous resource for those navigating the medical maze, she is kind and compassionate. I would not hesitate in using the services of Patient Navigator in the future and anticipate that we will need to call upon them again.
Being a new 65 year old and navigating through the open enrollment time was confusing and frustrating. A friend, recommended Elisabeth and what a life saver. She gave me clear, concise, and easy to follow instructions on what to look for in a Medicare supplement plan that would work for me and explained it so I could understand. I highly recommend Elisabeth to anyone trying to filter through choosing Medicare insurance. She made me feel comfortable with my decision.
As our parents become elderly, adult children can become the decision maker. Some parents request to stay in their homes, others prefer to live out their lives in an independent/assisted living facility. In my case, my father’s desire is to live out his life in his home. After two falls, fortunately he was not hurt, caretakers were employed. Advanced senility set in causing him to become more confused and contentious. My sons, who live on the west coast and I on the east coast, lent emotional support but were unable to physically help out. Consequently, my oldest son went a step further and researched patient advocates. Fortunately, for our family, he found Elisabeth Schuler. Elisabeth’s sagacious listening skills, enabled her to quickly comprehend our needs; with her guidance, a comfortable solution was implemented. Elisabeth’s knowledge, and compassion is a variable tool for any family dealing with complicated health/medical issues.
I contacted Elisabeth one the very day I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was terrified and Elisabeth’s one-step-at-at-a-time attitude helped me to calm myself to prepare for the journey ahead. Each and every step of the way she has been there for me with excellent advice, wonderful referrals, and insight that she has gained through her years of experience dealing with navigating this very stressful journey with others, again and again. She helped me to find ways to be completely organized so that I felt assured that I knew what I was talking about and what I needed at every consultation. She helped me understand testing and treatment options–each question I had was answered with by her with comprehensive research. She was there for me every step of the way–which was invaluable. I was very lucky to have an early stage cancer and not have to do chemo, and I am sure that her encouragement helped me to make quick but very knowledgeable decisions that definitely helped me in achieving my successful outcome. I can’t recommend her highly enough. Thank you, Elisabeth!
My spouse is facing a complex medical situation that feels overwhelming. I found Patient Navigator online and reached out. The response I received was welcoming and reassuring and I got pointed in the right direction. It was easy to see and, more importantly, feel the genuine compassion!
Elisabeth Schuler, Patient Navigator
Confronted with a serious complex medical situation, which in all likelihood would shorten my life, I found myself with a number of medical professionals supporting my efforts to optimize my chances for more time. Against this backdrop, it was hugely important to coordinate the professionals, and organize the paper work to assure that everyone who needed to have information readily available could access that material. The need to do this while at the same time managing debilitating treatments was often overwhelming.
I learned of Patient Navigator, owned by Elisabeth Schuler from a friend and reached out to her. Other than the selection of a primary oncology professional, my engaging of Elisabeth was the best decision I have made during my course of treatment. Elisabeth has organized my medical life. She has pulled together in a central location a massive amount of treatment information and doctor notes, she has organized and coordinated conference calls, she has pursued appointments that have often been difficult to schedule, and taken notes from meetings and consultations. In short, she has become my medical repository, coordinating with family and close friends involved with my care. She has performed these tasks in a highly professional manner, working at all hours as required and done so with a calm, professional demeanor, enabling me to be able to focus on my personal healing and well being. During this time, she has become a friend and confidant. Elisabeth is the ideal person for this role and I have treasured her involvement, encouragement, and support more than I could have ever imagined. Connie in Annapolis, MD January 28, 2020
When my mother-in-law suffered a significant medical crisis and became critically ill in the DC area, it felt overwhelming for my husband, his sister, and myself to understand her medical conditions, coordinate her care, and support her husband from the West Coast. Time zones, full time jobs, and our own young children made it feel impossible to be available to hear what the doctors and therapists were saying on daily rounds and to advocate for her when we felt that care could be improved. Elisabeth and her team at Patient Navigator were at the bedside regularly that first month, helping to synthesize what multiple specialists were saying, being there in person to push the nurse manager at the rehab facility to provide the services the doctors were recommending, and keeping us all up to date on progress and prognosis. When we transitioned our mom to a home setting months later, Elisabeth helped dad hire home nursing and get the home arranged to care for mom, set up a manageable medication list and even caught several prescription errors from the discharge facility. I don’t know how we could have done this without the Patient Navigator team and we can’t endorse her enough.
Elisabeth has been a lifesaver helping us to navigate my mother’s care, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer 18 months ago. She has taken the stress off of us, helping us to understand clinical trials available and different treatment options as well as all of the coordination between various doctors. This has allowed my mom to focus on her heath and spending time with family rather than hours of research and communication. Elisabeth is knowledgeable, organized, and caring, everything you would want from a navigator. We are so grateful for Elisabeth’s help!
Our children hired Elisabeth to help them deal with an aging parents’ medical situation. It was the perfect solution for the family. Elisabeth helped us gain much insight into the medical aspects and coping with the physical realities of the situation. She and her team researched the medicines involved and the help that would be needed as certain transitions were made. Strong, kind, compassionate, and firm, she met with doctors nurses and other professionals to make sure my needs were met. Would highly recommend a patient navigator for anyone facing life changing decisions and frankly just if entering any medical situation.
Elisabeth listened, she is compassionate, she is helpful. If Elisabeth can help you, I feel confident she will. Elisabeth is busy and will probably stay busy for a long time. Elisabeth is pasionate to advocate. You will be very fortunate to have Elisabeth in your corner.
When my mother-in-law fell ill, my husband and I were scrambling to sort out how to best go forward. We had a ton of questions – Medicaid? How does it work with Medicare? Is it possible to get in-home care? What other resources are out there for her? What questions should we ask her doctor? Elisabeth was awesome. She talked us through our questions, helped us figure out our next steps, and was a very knowledgeable, calm voice of reason!
Elizabeth Schuler has been a lifesaver during my elder mother’s complex heath crisis. (Multiple diagnoses, multiple facilities, then moving to their home.) Dad is her primary care partner, while sibling & spouse and I live on the west coast. 3 concerned adults and 2 stubborn seniors had to learn to trust her, fast. Fortunately, Elisabeth is incredibly knowledgeable and responsive. She asks the docs & staff every question we stickler kids would plus tons more. She’s diplomatic and kind but also firm and honest. We simply would not have gotten through this health crisis without her.
The simplest way to capture my experience is this: after several years winding through a gauntlet of physicians trying to find some explanation for my chronic health problems, Elisabeth connected me with a crackerjack medical researcher who scoured my voluminous medical records and the medical research and came up with a possible answer–the right one, it turned out–almost immediately. Setting aside the incredible relief of having an answer, the sheer value of feeling heard and cared for can’t possibly be expressed.
Patient Navigator’s services were recommended to me by a friend who recently lost her mother after a long illness and their service more than lived up to this positive reputation. Ms. Schuler Russell was extraordinarily helpful and knowledgeable during the ten-month period of my father’s final illness from cancer. She related well to us on both a personal and professional level and was very reassuring. She was able to provide excellent information and resources and was unfailingly kind and thoughtful. It was great to know that she could draw on the skills and technical knowledge of others in her network, which really extended and amplified the knowledge she shared with us. We were fortunate to benefit from her expertise and compassion during this difficult time. It made a huge difference to know that we had someone who could help us deal with unfamiliar and often challenging issues. I would recommend Ms. Schuler Russell and Patient Navigator very highly.
I contacted Patient Navigator shortly after my mother was diagnosed with dementia. The learning curve felt very steep, and I was looking for guidance and assistance from a knowledgeable professional who’d been through the process before. Elisabeth at Patient Navigator helped me tremendously; she supplied me with practical advice, resources, and referrals. But, perhaps more importantly, she gave me confidence and assurance that I was doing everything possible to help my mom. Thank you, Patient Navigator!
I contacted Elisabeth Schuler Russell after my mother was diagnosed with a very rare GI disease and was in ICU getting worse. Doctors were not listening to me or giving an adequate level of care because they didn’t understand this rare diagnosis. Continuing to get worse, I was frantic and wouldn’t leave her side and really barely had time to research myself to find specialist. I was frantic and within 12 hours, Elisabeth already had more information about this rare disease then any doctor had for weeks. I was able to use it to prove that they needed to work harder, contact other specialist or move her. The information and help was priceless. These are real people who truly cared and were everything our medical system lacks! I will use them again if ever needed.
Most likely if you’re on this site, you’re like I was, frustrated and desperate. Even though I work in the medical industry and can maneuver through it with relative ease, and I’m good at research, I couldn’t get anyone to address my problem of memory loss. Dave and Elisabeth were lifesavers. They researched for me when I no longer could. They got me in with doctors that I wouldn’t have ever found, and most importantly they treated me like I was a real person while finally getting me the correct diagnosis. I’m certain that they saved my life. I figure at best, by myself, it would have taken me five more years to get the correct diagnosis, but most likely it would have never happened. I trusted them with my life and it paid off. These people are amazing. If you’d like to email me in order to ask me questions from the patient’s perspective, you can get my address from Elisabeth, but just so you know up front, there is not one bad thing I can say about the Patient Navigator team.
Working with Leslie (and the team from Patient Navigator) was life-changing for me and my family. Leslie provided the right mix of kindness, concern and coaching for my mother who had a lifetime of misdiagnoses and pain management issues. Her ability to support my mother while holding her accountable for her own improvement was spot on. We spent years not fulling grasping what was wrong with her because all of various doctors didn’t communicate with one another and my mother was too overwhelmed to manage it. Leslie was extremely organized and smart with asking questions proactively and ensuring that all the doctors were apprised of each other’s diagnoses and concerns. Leslie always provided us with a full written report after each doctor visit or visit with my mom. It was incredible. I highly recommend Leslie and Patient Navigator to anyone facing challenging medical situations.
My family and I had a great experience working with our advocate, Dave Schlosser from Patient Navigator. When the situation became an emergency he worked extremely fast searching the country for the best surgeon for my case. He then contacted and coordinated with the doctors to set up my appointments and help get the paperwork submitted to them. Throughout the whole process he was there checking in to make sure I was comfortable and getting the best care I could. Even after surgery he was confirming that I was home and resting well. All in all this was a great experience with truly caring people.
After my father’s stroke, my mother was struggling to adapt to her new role as caregiver. They had an insurance plan and long term care so my father was able to stay at home while he recovered. Unfortunately, navigating the medical terrain was extremely difficult for my mom. In addition, heated disagreements regarding what we felt was the proper path for care erupted between family members. Having a professional advocate attend appointments with my Mom and deal with the insurance company was a godsend. All of the drama between the family members simply dissipated within a few weeks and my parents seemed to adapt quickly as the stress levels decreased. I highly recommend Patient Navigator if you are in a similar situation. It was worth every penny.
My husband has brain cancer and did not respond to standard of care. The only option was a clinical trial, but we could not find our way through the dozens (or hundreds) of options. (And we’re well educated.) Elisabeth Schuler and Dave Schlosser helped us organize the search, understand the options, and push through until we found one that — we hope — offers a good possibility. We would not have found it ourselves. They have excellent contacts, and are knowledgeable, professional, and kind. They helped us stay positive, as well as push forward to find treatment. We will keep them as A part of our health care team. Thank you.
Elisabeth has created a remarkable organization. Her small group of experts have improved my life in remarkable ways, saving me thousands of dollars and finding the very best medical help. Elisabeth coordinates my medical care, while offering much-needed emotional support. She has been a guiding light at a critical time in my life.
Once in a health crisis most people get the advice “you have to be your own #1 advocate.” Until you are fully immersed in the health system and a situation that requires it no one really understands the importance of that advice. Quickly the information available, professional opinions provided and systems to navigate can put someone untrained in the health industry far outside of their comfort zone. Yet you are still required to make very serious decisions that impact life and the quality of it. The Patient Navigator team gave us the confidence to make the decisions required and set our treatment direction. We have our family and a great team of doctors; for us Patient Navigator filled the last leg on the proverbial three-legged stool.
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I wish I had contacted Elisabeth sooner in my healthcare journey. She is an absolute force when it comes to compassionate & thorough research and also in following that up with advocacy to make sure appropriate care takes place. She pinpointed my problem, put me in the right treatment direction, and accompanied me to appointments when I was not in a place to advocate for myself. She also didn’t let me give up on finding an answer. Saying I am grateful for her work is an understatement about the value of what she did for my well-being.