Humana Medical Director & CFO Talk Kindred at Home

 Strange Tony,

Recent stories revealed Humana's plans for Kindred at Home/Curo.  Humana Medical Director Roy Beveridge, M.D. wrote a column for "Home Health Care News."

Since Carol lives with COPD, the nurse can use predictive analytics to alert the physician to a potential exacerbation or use remote monitoring to make sure her breathing is stable. Moreover, through telemedicine, the Kindred at Home nurse can instantly connect Carol from her home to her doctor — including a specialist or pharmacist, ensuring Carol gets optimal care and assures she is doing everything she can to stay in her home.

Humana and Kindred are a powerful duo and have the ability to transform home health care. Together, through post-acute visits, care coordination, clinical services, technology, and data and analytics, we’re able to extend the physician and their practice so Carol and others (Humana insureds) are able to stay where they want to be — at home.

Our hospice's predictive analytics are ignored by clinicians as meaningless.  We don't have telemedicine and I hope we don't get it.  Hospice patients deserve the peace, comfort and dignity that medical technology cannot bring.

After closing the Curo deal Humana/TPG Capital/WCAS demoted Kindred at Home's National Hospice Medical Director.  I don't know if Humana's Medical Director Roy Beveridge had any say in that decision.  Dr. Beveridge made $2.7 million from selling Humana stock in early August.

Humana CFO Brian Kane said at an investor presentation, “What we are trying to do with health care is fundamental transformation."  CFO Kane worked for Goldman Sachs for 17 years before joining Humana in 2014.  Kane sold stock worth $418,000 earlier this year and currently holds $6.2 million in Humana stock.  

Humana and its two financial rapscallion partners paid nearly twice as much for Curo (15 times EBITDA) as it did for Kindred at Home (8 times EBITDA).  Loyal employee shareholders lost big when Kindred's executives and board sold out on the cheap.

Kindred/Curo executives profited handsomely under their deals with Humana and its greedy partners.  Kindred at Home employees continue to wait for raises as they've patiently done for years.  Glassdoor employee reviews indicate lack of pay raises to be a common experience across the company.  The pressure to keep wages down will remain under Humana/TPG Capital/WCAS ownership.

I wonder how Kindred at Home will do all the new things Humana executives want if they don't reward talented employees.  One in four KAH employees leave the company annually.  Kindred at Home President David Causby received a bonus for increasing staff turnover last year.  How high can both numbers go?

Humana's goals for Kindred at Home/Curo face considerable headwinds from executive leadership's blinders, employees who are waking up to the unbalanced hand the company has dealt, the failure of technology to deliver relationships with depth and commitment and the fragile economic position of a highly leveraged combined KAH-Curo.  As a minority owner Humana is not in control.  You wouldn't know it from CFO Kane's and Dr. Beveridge's comments.

Anonymous (from Curo at Home Hospice)