How To Become A Lay Health Advocate: What It Is and Career Path

What is a lay health advocate and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Maureen Chiodini-Rinaldo

Lay health advocates are community health workers who give support to medical patients throughout several steps of the healthcare process. They serve as intermediaries between patients and their healthcare providers, assisting with recordkeeping, illness management, insurance filing, and more.

Typically, lay health advocates are employed by government agencies, non-profit organizations, and some hospitals to ensure that patients receive the best care possible. They may be tasked with managing many different aspects of the patient-healthcare provider relationship, acting as general consultants to patients on nearly any healthcare matter.

For example, a lay health advocate may help patients travel to and schedule appointments, organize and manage their medication regimes, or connect with various social services. After proper training and as needed, they may perform basic medical care such as first aid.

Many employers prefer to hire medical professionals into lay health advocate positions, but a medical degree isn't necessarily required. Generally, a bachelor's degree in social work, human services, or public health is all you need to be considered as a lay health advocate.

Though pay varies from employer to employer, the average salary of this career is around $48,000 per year.

What general advice would you give to a lay health advocate?

Maureen Chiodini-Rinaldo

Assistant Professor of Instruction, University of South Florida

God gave you two ears and one mouth. Listen twice as much as you talk. Remain open-minded and stay in touch with your mentors. We should always be learning. Find your path and your niche by doing what makes you happy. Don't chase the money. If you are happy and doing what you love and are passionate about, the money will come.

ScoreLay Health AdvocateUS Average

Salary

2.7

Avg. Salary $35,126

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.1

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.26%

Asian 5.99%

Black or African American 9.93%

Hispanic or Latino 20.17%

Unknown 6.41%

White 56.25%

Gender

female 74.09%

male 25.91%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

7.1

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.1

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.9

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a lay health advocate

Explore lay health advocate education requirements

Most common lay health advocate degrees

Bachelor's

59.9 %

Associate

15.8 %

Master's

11.5 %

Start to develop specific lay health advocate skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	16.61%
Social Work	14.40%
Substance Abuse	8.57%
Home Health	5.32%
Behavioral Health	5.30%

Complete relevant lay health advocate training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New lay health advocates learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a lay health advocate based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real lay health advocate resumes.

Research lay health advocate duties and responsibilities

Manage large databases, analyze records, perform literature reviews, prepare PowerPoint presentations, and interpret data for publication.
Provide advocacy and direct support to acute adult and adolescent patients requiring medical and behavioral health treatment in the emergency room.
Maintain all test subject results and consent forms are fully confidential in lieu of federal HIPAA regulation (s . )
Comply with federal regulation in management of clients sensitive personal identifiable information (HIPAA regulations )

Prepare your lay health advocate resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your lay health advocate resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a lay health advocate resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable lay health advocate resume templates

Build a professional lay health advocate resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your lay health advocate resume.