Thursday, December 23, 2021

Vultures to Own Our Hospice Once Again?


 Strange Tony,

Humana is yet to sell or spin off our hospice after acquiring 60% of Kindred at Home from financial rapscallions TPG Capital and Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe in August.

From 2012 to 2019, the number of hospices owned by private equity companies tripled. The pace of acquisitions seems to have only gotten faster during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our time under private equity ownership was particularly painful.  Financial vultures decimated staffing and our service levels.   


Bad deaths, once very rare, became more common due to lack of staff and greatly increased operational complexity.  The company put in place bureaucratic steps for medications and supplies formerly readily available. 

Our hospice will likely end up under greedy ownership, yet again.  Lord help us all,

Anonymous

6 comments:

  1. I shared this with a friend who said:

    "why not, they kill everything they touch......companies, cultures, cities, towns, sovereigns, families....."

    ReplyDelete
  2. This Indeed comment reflects what the vultures did to our hospice:

    "Office personnel are treated as disposable and are often pushed past the breaking point and not compensated for doing the work of 3-4 people."

    "Stressful, unappreciated, overworked"

    ReplyDelete
  3. A former doctor at a private equity-owned dermatology chain alleges lost biopsies, overbooking and questionable quality control in the company-owned lab.

    “Dermatologists from all over the country have shared with me their experiences with private equity-backed groups promoting profits over patient care,” he said. “Many are shackled with non-disparagement agreements and are afraid to publicly share their experiences. These stories need to be told.”

    https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/get-money-dermatologist-says-patient-care-suffered-private-equity-back-rcna9152

    ReplyDelete
  4. Pwc predicts more vulture buyouts in 2022.

    https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/health-industries/library/health-services-deals-insights.html

    Private equity and corporate capital is plentiful and driving demand for assets (healthcare companies).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Humana employee said:

    Lots of mandatory overtime and they do not car about your priorities outside of work. They grade you on everything that you do even if our of your control or their fault and it will affect your bonuses/schedule bids/raises. You can only take time off when they want you to and you have to use your PTO if you have a sick day or an emergency.

    Pros
    Pay is okay but no overtime pay. Straight pay for overtime no matter how much you have to work.

    Cons
    Everything

    Comment: Not surprised as wage theft is widespread within our Kindred Hospice. Humana excelled at it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I left after 10 years when Curo entered the picture and our everyday jobs as RN case managers became insufferable. Office staff was cut 2/3s, supplies were impossible to get for patients who really needed them. Even longtime pharmacy partners quit us because of poor reimbursement. Staff fled and that put more work on the ones who stayed. But guess who suffered most - our patients. When will these large companies realize they shoot themselves in the foot when they do this?

    ReplyDelete