Intentional Cruelty and Greed is Breier's Legacy

Strange Tony,

Ben Breier, the man who trashed his company's vision for integrated post-acute healthcare while making two king's ransoms, said of his new book Intentional Disruption:

"This is not a technical business book; it's an emotional leadership survival guide," Breier explained. "It encourages readers to be connected to a mission rather than just a salary. This book will hopefully help incumbent leaders, but was written with an eye towards inspiring emerging leaders of tomorrow."

Ben Breier is a jerk who sold our once great hospice down a river. While he counted his winnings Humana and financial rapscallions destroyed our hospice, harming employees and patient care.

Intentional Disruption is what Breier did to enrich himself multiple times.  He did not give employees an equity stake in the company.  Breier held that for fellow executives and his financial rapscallion partners.  

Breier disrupted employee trust when he abandoned us in summer 2018 for his first king's ransom.  Executives told us there would be no changes.  Yet, our new owners decimated staffing, cut the number of holidays and holiday pay (50%), drove away experienced hospice workers, and acted like everything was great when customer service scores plummeted and stayed poor.

Our leaders did not communicate with us, likely for their emotional survival.  They acted like there was no damage from the ongoing series of betrayals and reductions.  A management basic is paying people fairly for hours worked and miles driven.  Leaders failed abysmally in that regard.

Disruption should not mean stealing wages and mileage reimbursement from the people you supposedly lead.  Ben Breier will atone for his actions when he faces his maker.  I expect no insights into the distorted reality he created while enriching himself at the expense of the worker.   Rupture is a word I associate with Kindred Healthcare and Ben Breier.  That he did it all intentionally shows what a sorry person he is.  

Anonymous

Deals Drive Down Kindred Employment

Strange Tony,

Kindred Healthcare had 2,100 employees in Louisville, Kentucky in December 2017 when it announced its deal with Humana and two financial rapscallions to carve up the company.  Buyers said it would be unlikely that the local workforce would be impacted. 

As of December 2020 Kindred Healthcare had 1,185 employees in the Louisville area, a 44% reduction.  That's the portion of the company Humana did not buy.  

Oddly, there is no employment data for Kindred at Home in Louisville, Atlanta (Gentiva) or Mooresville (Curo Healthcare).  Humana reported an increase of 40,000 employees after buying out its KAH rapscallion partners.  That number should be at the top of any employment list.  It is missing.  

Our local Kindred Hospice experienced a 40% headcount reduction after Humana et al bought us.  That made Kindred at Home CEO David Causby's holdings far more valuable.   Yes, he profited handsomely from screwing over employees.

We are for sale again.  I don't think we can survive another greedy owner that partners with self-dealing executives.  Employees lose again.

Anonymous

Humana Drives Away Medicare Advantage, TPG Going Public

Strange Tony,

Our hospice waits for Humana to decide the method it plans to use to ditch us for a huge chunk of change (yet again).  Humana's stock is taking a beating today, down $80 per share due to Medicare Advantage enrollees dumping Humana coverage during Medicare's recent open enrollment period.  

For 2021, most Humana MA members will also have access to Go365, the insurer's health and wellness program that rewards users for improving their healthy behaviors.

Extrinsic rewards often demotivate people, the exact opposite of their intention.  Did that contribute to people switching away from Humana MA plans?

Eligible MA members will also have access to Humana at Home, a program in which they will be provided with a personal care manager who will reach out regularly with education and assistance in accessing resources to assist with medication, transportation and other needs.

How many of those who left Humana had the same personal care manager for the whole year?  Turnover in that position could motivate those with coverage to leave.  

Hopefully CEO Bruce Broussard will explain why so many insureds walked away from Humana's offerings in his upcoming earnings call.  A little color on that would be helpful.

TPG Capital, our former 30% owner, plans to go public.  Financial rapscallion founders will make billions from their equity stakes in the company, but that isn't near enough.

TPG's top dealmakers will force the buyout firm to pay them the cash value of tax savings it expects to receive, currently estimated to be worth $1.44 billion, in the years following its initial public offering (IPO)

These obscenely wealthy individuals pay taxes at a lesser rate thanks to the U.S. Congress.

Congress never passed into law proposed legislation that would have taxed payments made through tax receivable agreements as ordinary income. 

I know how TPG and Humana harmed our hospice after buying Kindred at Home in July 2018.   Our owners were quite skilled in driving away talented, dedicated hospice employees.  It is not surprising they did so with their customers as well.

Anonymous