Career Options

"You will join an elite group of nurses at the forefront of this rapidly expanding profession. This new nursing practice model is garnering national recognition and visibility as part of the solution to a frustrating healthcare system." - Karen Mercereau RN, iRNPA


Finally - Nurses can utilize their years of clinical experience and their newly acquired iRNPA education to advocate, educate, and guide their patients and their families to achieving optimal wellness. Being an iRNPA is the opportunity to deliver patient-centered care unimpeded by the forces of a dysfunctional corporate medical system - just pure nursing.


iRNPAs are paving the way and setting the standard for other nurses to follow. iRNPAs have demonstrated an earning potential of $75-$250/hour depending on experience and region of practice. Create a profitable practice that allows and encourages you to grow personally and professionally.

Career Versatility

• Work in a variety of practice settings. Apply your independent practice to contexts ranging from advocating for patients in acute and chronic health care settings to personal and corporate health wellness coaching to community and nonprofit sectors.
• Choose from different practice models. A graduate can work solo in their own independent iRNPA practice, or choose to form or join an existing group practice with other iRNPA graduates. A group practice can also be comprised of a multidisciplinary group of professionals with complementary skills. You can read more about the evolving iRNPA Group Practice Models below.

Post Course Support

National Network of RN Patient Advocates
The National Network provides an online platform for professional iRNPAs to share knowledge, experience, and practice support, as well as marketing material for iRNPA services, referrals by region for inquiries received through RN Patient Advocates, PLLC, and a growing list of benefits. Learn More on the National Network Page

Emerging Careers
RN Patient Advocates, PLLC is working at a national level to develop additional business opportunities exclusively for graduates of the RNPA Learning Intensive.

Group Practice
There is strength in numbers! Group Practice is a business model in which two or more iRNPAs join to form a private independent RN Patient Advocacy practice. A Group Practice can foster confidence and support in all aspects of working as an iRNPA. With new iRNPA Leaning Intensive graduates entering the field each year, there are growing opportunities to start a Group Practice.

One Group Practice model includes professionals from related fields, such as insurance and medical billing, to offer interdisciplinary services to their clients. iRNPAs must stay current clinically to meet the evolving demands of an increasingly complex healthcare delivery system while maintaining work-life balance, and a group practice model may offer this solution.

Advantages of Group Practice
Share resources to lower the cost of business such as bookkeeping and marketing Greater market access means more client referrals and more community connections Combine interests and talents - do what you love to do to enhance your work experience Complementary Skill sets provide a greater range of services available for your clients Clinical Coverage – for holidays, weekends, and emergencies.

Continuing educational opportunities – also can share the cost of conferences, subscriptions, books, other educational materials.

Non Profit sector
RN Patient Advocacy has tremendous potential in the nonprofit sector. HEAL (Health Education And Literacy) a 501(c)3 organization was founded for iRNPAs interested in pursuing grant-based research or providing community based health literacy programs.

Patient Advocacy in the Media

• Independent RN Patient Advocacy: A Professional Nursing Model That Addresses Critical Problems in the Medical System by Karen Mercereau, RN, iRNPA and Jessica Koegel, RN, BSN, iRNPA | pg 24 | www.aamcn.org | Vol. 2, No. 4 | Journal of Managed Care Nursing Oct 11, 2015




• Karen Mercereau, RN: Patient Advocacy-Filling in the Gaps to Prevent Medical Errors, Improve Outcomes, and Reduce Costs - Interview by Craig Gustafson • pg 56 • Integrative Medicine • Vol. 15, No. 1 • February 2016




• Passion for Patient Advocacy, by Karen Mercereau RN, iRNPA Advance Healthcare Network for Nurse, Northeast, March, 2014




• Private Patient Advocates Help Navigate the Medical Maze, Chicago Tribune, May 2015
  * This article spotlights an iRNPA Graduate.




• Patient Advocates: The Coach in Your Corner for Taking on the Health Care System, Nerd Wallet, April, 2014




• Working In Retirement: How To Be A Patient Advocate, Forbes, April 2013




• The Booming new profession of Patient Advocate American Public, Marketplace by American Public Meida, September, 2012




• The Business of Health Advocacy, Arizona Daily Star, July, 2012




• After a Diagnosis, Someone to Help Point the Way, New York Times September, 2011