 Kamaker argues that hiring a private advocate eliminates this conflict because the private advocate “…has only one master and very clear priorities.”

Patient opinion leaders, also sometimes called patient advocates, are individuals who are well versed in a disease, either as patients themselves or as caretakers, and share their knowledge on the particular disease with others.Such POLs can have an influence on health care providers and may help persuade them to use evidence-based therapies or medications in the management of other patients.Identifying such people and persuading them is one goal of market access groups at pharmaceutical and medical device companies.