Patient advocacy is a growing field since people are living longer, families are scattered, medical options are numerous, doctors are hard-pressed to handle more patients and insurance coverage has many bureaucratic layers. Peter Lichtenberg, director of Wayne State University's Institute of Gerontology, is a proponent of patient advocacy. Study after study shows there's a real barrier between the patient and the health care team. And people aren't always going to have that relative around. Dr. Robert Frank, executive vice dean of Wayne State's School of Medicine, believes that doctors may resist efforts of the patient advocate. "We have a long way to go to understand that someone who helps the patient get to the essential issues is going to be a huge time-saver."