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
Mississippi RN - Corporate greed gradually eroded the means to do our job helping patients who really needed us. Crappy laptops, no supplies, huge coverage areas, nurses leaving in droves. Gentiva was terrible years ago before Kindred, Curo, Humana, and I’m sure it hasn’t changed.
ReplyDeleteOur founding hospice physician began his work prior to Medicare covering hospice as a separate benefit. He challenged corporate types, however they knew his care drew many patients, so they didn't deride him to his face.
ReplyDeleteThey did talk smack about him behind his back, like two-faced corporacrats do.
Our hospice staff heard many times:
“If you can’t do it, we’ll find someone who can.”
Corporate bullies needed to fire themselves, given the trauma they inflicted on our hospice resulted in over a 50% drop in census.
The link below is to an article in ProPublica on financial rapscallions taking over hospice. Sadly, it is all too familiar.
https://www.propublica.org/article/hospice-healthcare-aseracare-medicare?utm_source=pocket-newtab
"between 2011 and 2019, research shows, the number of hospices owned by private-equity firms tripled.".
ReplyDeleteThe ProPublica piece on hospice greed mentions SouthernCare Hospice (part of the Curo branch of the Gentiva family), Amedisys (where Curo's Larry Graham was once COO and left in curious circumstances). No mention of Kindred/Gentiva but many of the stories ring familiar.
ReplyDeleteyeop they got the high notes
Deletethere's lots going on and it's just getting startec
Yikes - that's gross negligent malpractice
ReplyDeleteThere have always been just four ways to make money in hospice
1 - aggressive sales
2 - relentless cost cutting
3 - financial engineering
4 - fraud
It's the perfect storm
Gentiva Hospice RN said "Management"
ReplyDeletePros
Schedule, pay, benefits, patients, autonomy
Cons
Management was absolutely horrible. Not supportive. Changing job descriptions.
https://irabyock.org/
ReplyDeleteIra Byock is a leading palliative care physician and public advocate for improving care through the end of life.
Dr. Byock is disgusted by the current state of hospice and believes the system needs to be blown up and just start over.
hey now will you look at this
ReplyDeletehttps://hospicenews.com/2022/12/14/aveanna-ceo-tony-strange-to-retire-coo-shaner-to-take-helm/
Gentiva Hospice Patient Care Manager said:
ReplyDeletePros
Schedule, pay, benefits, patients, autonomy
Cons
Poor leadership, empty promises, Pay
Arkansas RN said "Run":
ReplyDeletePros
I can’t think of any!
Cons
The pay is terrible, zero work/life balance, the benefits are terrible.
Advice to Management
Run for your life! The management care about the bottom dollar more than the employees. They will run you ragged for zero compensation! The benefit package is terrible. The amount of time you put in at the job per week equals out to minimum wage.
Weekend On Call RN in South Carolina said:
ReplyDeleteOne of the most stressful places I've worked. I quit because I couldn't handle the stress of it. Nice management. Little to no training for a relatively new nurse.
Virginia Social Worker said this about Kindred/Gentiva Hospice:
ReplyDeleteI enjoy what I do as a Social Worker, despite company’s staffing and management changes throughout the last years. I would like for the company to show more appreciation for those of us who have been loyal employees.
Pros
Autonomy
Cons
Management changes
RN Case Manager in Virginia said of Gentiva Hospice:
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, so short staff. No work life balance, extremely long hrs, 50 to 70 hrs weekly. No additional compensation for working your weekends off, or days off. No one to cover your pts if your sick. Excellent Social Worker, and chaplain and CNA's. Schedule is inconsistent, Absolutely no communication, better get everything in writing, promises not kept.
Nurse Practitioner in California said "too many acquisitions"
ReplyDeletePros
Prior to acquisitions, it was a great company to work for. Kind managers, caring nurses, involved doctors.
Cons
This company has undergone so many acquisitions and managers to maintain strong leadership.
Reminded me of Gentiva/Kindred Hospice and how they treated our laid off employees:
ReplyDeleteA CEO approached a just laid off employee for assistance with a task only that employee knew how to do.
“I’m an HR professional and my advice – Don’t do it!!!” another person advised. “Cut the ties, they made their decision, let them live with it. Companies DO NOT CARE.”
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/laid-off-employee-calls-out-ridiculous-email-from-former-boss-this-is-exploitation-205839560.html
The healthcare sector has been financialised. Care homes, often seen as prime development sites, have been taken-over by private equity and are run for profit rather than care for patients. Profits are generated through financial engineering, tax avoidance, low wages and a high level of deliberately unfilled vacancies. This delivers record profits, dividends and executive pay, but poor care for residents.
ReplyDeletehttps://leftfootforward.org/2023/02/the-growth-of-the-finance-industry-is-strangling-the-uk-economy/