Strange Tony,
"Home Health Care News" ran a piece on how private equity firms think. An operating partner at our new owner said:
"The simplest way I find to explain it is: if we’re successful, we take good companies, and we make them great companies.”
That's bull excrement in light of our hospice experience under majority private equity ownership. TPG Capital and Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe owned 60% of Kindred at Home from July 2018 to August 2021.
The market will tell you right away.It did. Their greatness resulted into an over 50% drop in census. Turnover went through the roof after they eliminated half the office jobs, cut two paid holidays, reduced holiday pay by 33% and installed crappy technology that stole pay and mileage reimbursement from dedicated hospice workers.
Signature programs for hospice patients disappeared. Financial rapscallions cut the many little things we did for patients in recognizing special days (birthdays, anniversaries) and honoring their service in the U.S. military.
Before Humana et al we put much thought into our annual memorial service for grievers, planning a number of ways for families to remember and honor memories of their deceased loved ones. Tight budgets eliminated nearly all of those personal touches.
Fortunately, our hospice's founding Medical Director missed financial rapscallion ownership as a board certified physician in hospice and palliative care. That was a blessing, however he did experience it as a patient while the COVID-19 pandemic roared through our community and filling ICUs. He'd watched the development of MRNA vaccines and strongly believed in their use. Our hospice said his nurse had been vaccinated. That was a lie.
In addition, this nurse had been arrested for harming a family member, A second arrest for the same crime occurred after our Medical Director's death. Vaccine and family abuse information seems pertinent to a family intent on keeping their loved one safe. That occurred under private equity ownership.
I don't recall anything close to these violations during my time with hospice prior to financial rapscallion ownership.
"Home Health Care News" would do better to interview hospice workers and learn how private equity firms damage care delivery and short shrift employees. Sadly, courage is in short supply.
Anonymous
