Who We Are

AMERICAN PATIENT RIGHTS ASSOCIATION

American Patient Rights Association (APRA) is a national organization of patients who want affordable, transparent, and safe health care.

Most people are unaware of the dangers of our out-of-control, profit-driven medical system that rewards hospitals, medical clinics, and urgent care facilities for medical treatment that is frequently unnecessary and often dangerous, health insurers for denying needed treatment, and pharmaceutical manufacturers who put unreasonable profit before patients’ lives. As a result, every year hundreds of thousands of people die or suffer permanent harm.

As of December 2023, one-in-three adults in the United States have medical debt. That’s an estimated 100 million people*. It’s the leading cause of bankruptcy. Seventy two percent (72%) of people bankrupted by medical bills have health insurance**.

APRA is fighting for the fair, safe, transparent, and affordable healthcare we all deserve.

APRA is independent, non-partisan, and not associated with nor influenced by any medical, health insurance, pharmaceutical organization or association, or government department.

OUR PURPOSE

APRA was founded to:

1. • expose the hidden dangers and offenders in our medical system
   • provide information and programs that can help people protect themselves and their family members from preventable physical and financial harm when they need medical treatment
   • provide a voice for patients
   • fight to stop preventable medical errors in hospitals, the 3rd leading cause of death, and
   • fight to stop hospitals from using predatory medical billing practices that bankrupt patients.

APRA is empowering healthcare consumers by providing:

• • a voice for patients;
  • unbiased information and beneficial programs to help our members avoid financial hardship due to medical bills, the leading cause of bankruptcy; 
  • unbiased information and beneficial programs to help our members protect themselves and their families from preventable medical errors, which are estimated to kill 250,000 to 440,000 hospital patients each year and injure millions more;
  • information to help our members protect themselves from being harmed by medical, pharmaceutical, and insurance organizations that put profit before patients.

Membership in APRA is free and open to all. Register now to receive membership benefits. 

Today, public support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to develop programs that save lives, and lets us keep our membership free. If you value what we do please give a donation today so we can keep on doing work that matters.

OUR MISSION

To provide the leadership, education, and advocacy for the right of healthcare consumers to receive safe, fair, transparent medical services and goods.

OUR VISION

Medical care for all that is free of preventable harm. All patients should have a right to transparency, clarity, full disclosure, honesty, and truthfulness in all medical matters, which are too often missing from patient communications.

The APRA website is a unique resource for patients. It provides important information that is not commonly known by, or widely available to, patients. including:

• news and alerts about medical facilities, treatments, medications, devices, insurance, and more, that threaten the safety or financial well-being of healthcare consumers, and
• tools that people can use to protect themselves from physical and financial harm when receiving medical treatment.

APRA supports all medical facilities and practitioners that provide fair, safe, reasonable, and transparent medical services.

**Study by Harvard University. Learn more. 

* White House State Convening on Medical Debt December 2023.

Membership in APRA is free and open to all. Register now to receive membership benefits. 

Why a Patient Rights Association is Needed

All Americans should have the right to receive medical treatment but it is mainly a privilege that is only available to those who can afford it. All patients should be treated equally and fairly but they are not. Health equality and equity are serious issues affecting Blacks, Latinos, the elderly, the impoverished, the disabled, and others. Everyone who receives medical care should be treated safely but instead, each patient must protect him or herself from unsafe treatment. Patients need transparency when seeking hospital treatment but there is none.

Corporate healthcare systems that prioritize profits over patients are growing larger and larger each year, buying up private practices and stifling competition, leaving fewer and fewer private doctors who put patients first. The medical-industrial complex successfully opposes any legislation that supports fair or safe medical treatment but could threaten corporate profits. 

Most people are unaware that:

• patient safety in hospitals is a major problem that has grown much worse since the pandemic;
• medical errors happen at all hospitals every day;
• approximately one in four seniors who are hospitalized will be harmed by an injury or illness that is unrelated to the illness or injury they are being treated for;
• medical errors are recognized by medical experts as the third leading cause of death;
• medical bills are the leading cause of personal bankruptcy;
• most of the active ingredients and raw materials that go into our generic prescription drugs come from Chinese sources that are not overseen by the FDA, which places all Americans at risk due to a lack of drug safety monitoring and the potential for our drug supply to be cut off at will by China. Until we develop pharmaceutical manufacturing that is independent of the Chinese we can be held hostage at any time.

FACT:

APRA is fighting to stop the 3rd leading cause of death, preventable medical errors in hospitals.
APRA is developing solutions to help our members fight unreasonable and predatory medical bills.
APRA is developing solutions to make health care safer for all.
APRA seeks the cooperation of employers, healthcare organizations,  insurers, pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, state and federal governments, and others in creating a fairer, safer, healthier America.

OUR MOTTOS

​Save Our Patients™ | Patients Before Profits ™ | Patient Power ™ | Treat Patients Safely ™U

We Depend on Gifts From People Like You 

We depend on donations to develop and support programs and apps that can help people protect themselves and their families when medical care is needed, like the Patient’s Hospital Safety Guide, the Hospital Guide for COVID Patients, the Patient Safety Reporting System, and more.