Could arm chair detectives save our medical system?

I know a more robust system of advocates who were truly patient advocates would make a tremendous difference. The patient advocate who greets you or your loved one in the hospital to discuss your care is not working for you. She is working for the hospital to improve the profitability of the hospital and move you or your loved one to a secondary care facility as soon as possible to open up that bed for someone else while providing income to the other center which is part of the same organization.

Who in the system takes responsibility for making sure that you or your loved one is receiving optimal care? Not the doctor you have been seeing for years. He may not even have admitting privileges to the hospital he sends you to. You are at the mercy of the system and the basic sense of decency of their employees.

Arm chair detective is a genre of crime fiction where retired detectives solve crimes utilizing skills that are not being utilized by the system but (in fiction) manage to save the day.

I have become an unofficial (not entirely arm chair) patient advocate for friends and acquaintances who need help navigating our broken medical care system. I don't have a structured way of choosing who I try to help. Because I am a retired physician, medical matters often come up in conversation with friends and even casual acquaintances. I ask a few questions to see what the situation is and what the person understands about that situation. If I think they may be having trouble understanding the situation or are facing inappropriate obstacles in their path, I offer to get involved. If they are interested, I ask for copies of all of their imaging studies and pertinent pathology reports and such. I review everything with them and reassess the medical situation as I learn more from them. Ultimately I have found that going with a patient to his or her doctor appointment has been universally productive. Trying to speak with another doctor by phone, unfortunately, is not possible. So I help the patient by being there and asking each doctor to explain what the plan is.

I have decided to take this need more seriously. I would like to develop an informal network of arm chair physicians who still have contacts within the system to offer assistance to each other in helping friends and family navigate medical issues. I already have a few fellow physician friends who share my concerns, and they have been helpful in brain-storming the problems that have arisen so far. I also share the confidence of a few local hospital nurses who are working within the system. They see the problem as well as anyone.

Any advice or help would be appreciated.