Strange Tony,
Kindred at Home CEO David Causby and Hospice President Larry Graham spoke to employees via audio. I asked my hospice co-workers about the company update. They said:
- It had no meat, no substance. It sounded like a political speech
- They talked about how great things are going and how management is doing great
- There was nothing for me in their talk
- The talk of excellence and making a great company is nonsense, given what they've done to our hospice, harming our service levels and quality of care
I believe my coworkers busted their backsides to serve our hospice patients while severely handicapped by a garbage-in/garbage-out Homecare Homebase (HCHB) and Curo's unreliable technology. We waived goodbye to five co-workers who'd worked hard to serve our patients. Local management promised merit raises during Q1 but they never arrived.
Causby talked about spreading the Homecare Homebase virus throughout the company. It is infecting 15 home health sites with plans to make it epidemic at all 360 home health locations. Causby said it would help with administrative and clinical operations. Somehow he believes it will help with employee retention and recruitment.
Hospice President Larry Graham is of the same delusion. He stated HCHB would "enhance the work-life balance of clinical staff and lead the industry in compliance and clinical excellence.
A nurse case manager in Florida wrote this on Indeed three days ago. "The charting will take over your life. You spend all day in the field seeing patients then have to go home and spend hours charting. There was no real training on the documentation either, you just learn as you go. Every form requires an additional form which ultimately requires an addendum.. it’s never ending. On your days off you are expected to catch up on charting and are getting phone calls, texts and emails. It’s non stop."
Two days ago a North Carolina nurse wrote about her Kindred at Home employment. "NO ONE tells you that you will work from home the moment you get home until you fall asleep charting, wake up and chart more. There is no work life balance."
CEO Causby touched on benefits, that have only deteriorated under his watch, and our long promised merit raises. The company administered a benefit survey that asked about benefit trade offs and possible new benefits, most of which were nonsense, like maid or handyman.
Hospice President Larry Graham mentioned "enhanced benefits" in his talk but those words made no sense to my hospice coworkers. In the real world Causby and Graham took away our Employee Appreciation Day and Floating holiday for 2019.
David Causby said he wanted to "improve the benefit structure for all of our employees." If Causby, Graham, Humana CEO Bruce Broussard and our 60% financial rapscallion owners meant that then employees would have equity stakes in Kindred at Home and something other than a pittance for a retirement match. These executives are well aware of Kindred's miserly benefits package vs. Humana's.
Long promised merit raises remain a distant vision. Causby said executives are "looking at salary structure and plan to address merits in upcoming months for our company." Apparently raises remain under the vise grip of strong cost controls.
Graham dangled a golden future with Humana as our employer where executives would go above and beyond for patients and staff. Through redesigning for excellence opportunities will be created for employees.
Causby tempered Graham's lofty future by informing us executives did the heavy lifting in standing up our company up over the last ten months. He noted this transitional year had the company fully implementing HCHB in hospice which caused "a lot of stressful times." Causby said "hopefully there will be more opportunities within the organization for individuals to grow, but it wouldn't be right of me to say this is not going to be a bumpy year. I hope all of you can stay with us as go through this transition." Causby and Graham bumped five co-workers out the door via the Curo model.
Causby said Kindred at Home is a good company that wants to be great. "It starts with employees, feedback to us and how we can get better." Here's one answer. It starts with real relationship.
Quit bullshitting us.
Anonymous
"The impact of sharing your concerns is crucial to the future experience of other employees."- KAH Manager of Online Reputation
ReplyDeleteNot true at all. I have seen Kindred ignore widespread staff concerns and even legitimate Medical Director concerns. Those who express issues are labelled negative and given poor evaluations. It's happened over and over and over at our hospice site.
The recent employee satisfaction survey did not go to all staff. Thus a number of my coworkers did not have the opportunity to share their concerns. They must not be important to Kindred at Home's future, years of strict cost controls followed by a giant executive payday.
Dozens of times a day my coworkers make a difference in patient's/family's lives. Out of 57,600 monthly occurrences management plans to pick one and reward that employee. The other 57,599 will be ignored by management at our hospice. I'll wager one of management's favorites will garner the initial award.
ReplyDeleteTalented hospice staff continue jumping ship at an alarming rate. Rats remain and are clearly in charge.
ReplyDeleteI've been with the hospice side of the company since the Gentiva days - back when it felt like family. Now we wake up already stressed out before even walking in the door. Rumors going around have it that hourly RNs are going to be switched to salaried, as new hires are already being brought on as salaried - which means they can work us as long as they want with no overtime. Also, did you know we had patients transferring to us from other Curo-owned companies before they bought us because Curo's service was HORRIBLE? Now look what we've become! It's EMBARRASSING and most of us RNs are looking around right now for other jobs. We feel our hard-earned licenses are on the line.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear Curo is dragging down other hospice sites. It would be naive to think our site was the only one being decimated.
DeleteMost of our nurses have left or plan to leave. New hires are salaried which makes the sting and stink of Homecare Homebase (HCHB) even worse. They have their valuable time wasted with excessive, complicated documentation. Nurses no longer come into the office for fear of a late afternoon admission.
Everyone has their hands full trying to deliver our historic levels of hospice service with Curo's sparse staffing. People were killing themselves trying to uphold our prior standards, but most have given up.
Clinical staff continue to be grossly underpaid for hours and mileage via HCHB. Longtime staff want to save our hospice but in our minds we know it is too far gone. The Curo locust plague turned our hospice into a wasteland. I hope the Mean Girls and Curo/KAH execs enjoy the money now because atonement awaits.
"Address salary structure" -- Bad Kindred at Home management allowed new RN hires to be paid more than experienced hospice staff with over a decade of experience. It's a significant HR problem when wage scales have newbies making more than their trainers.
ReplyDeleteNew hires making more than experienced staff:
Deletehttps://www.indeed.com/cmp/Kindred-At-Home/reviews?id=ed65c98ef1859a05
Dedicated, experienced staff are leaving our hospice in droves. One year under Humana/TPG/WCAS informed staff our owners do not care about hospice quality, much less workers. Our patients, their families and hospice physicians don't need or want heartless managers driven solely by North Carolina spreadsheets.
ReplyDeleteCuro wants us to grow by shrinking. My coworkers got the message and are helping drop the FTE count. How many of those Curo executives will travel to our site to make nurse visits? Not a one. Count on it.
We lost 60 years of hospice experience in just a few weeks. Our most experienced hospice nurse said they expect our site to close in a year due to the tremendous damage caused by Humana and its financial rapscallion partners. When they left they thanked the team (coworkers) while citing how much they detested the company. Bruce Broussard, Brian Kane, David Causby and Larry Graham will pay the piper for their sins of commission and omission. They foisted bad technology and incapable systems on our once great hospice. At every level I see arrogant, disconnected leaders.
ReplyDeleteAttack of the Mean Girls?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.indeed.com/cmp/Kindred-Hospice/reviews?id=87ac742d21f3d62f
Rating 1 star out of five (worst possible rating)
Will stab you in the back when someone doesn't like you.
Manager of Clinical Practice (Former Employee) – Snyder, TX – May 31, 2019
When humana bought us and Curo took over, this place went in the toilet fast, upper management does not help when your short staffed, they expect you to do the job of 3 people and don't give you the resources to get the job completed, then one day they are offering you an Executive Director position in a start up hospice, then 2 months later you are told your not a fit and terminate on the spot after 9 years of loyal service. I would not recommend this company to employees. The only reason people have stayed at this company is for the patients.
Wage scales, like KAH/Curo management, have no integrity. That's what happen when greed takes over. HR became strategic years ago, i.e. serves senior executives only, with most human resource functions contracted out.
ReplyDeleteFinancial rapscallions work fast. Nearly a year after they took over our hospice is unrecognizable. We busted our backsides to give the company its great first quarter. No more. Management promised raises which never arrived. In other words they lied.
My coworkers learned no one is looking out for us. It took us a long, difficult year but we finally figured it out. Thus the exodus.
I am speechless and devastated by the sudden sendoff given to one of our own. I didn't get a chance to thank this person for all the love, passion and time they gave to our patients, families and staff. They will be dearly missed.
ReplyDeleteMore Mean Girl Management? It has their scent. Call 1-800-359-7412 to report.
DeleteSix other people worked out their notice including someone who yelled and cursed at management. Yet, this dedicated, caring person is shuttled out the door?
DeleteThey resigned to help care for a family member, the physician who founded our hospice. Local and area management bullied this person for years and all of us staff noticed.
Someone else had a bad experience once they submitted their notice:
Deletehttps://www.indeed.com/cmp/Kindred-At-Home/reviews?id=5f1c33b0bc9b371d
Their office sounds similar to ours. HR should be called Management Support because they do nothing for employees.
Greed has been stealing the love, soul,and vital grace away from hospice for years, and increasingly so with each buyout. Hospice hearts (like the one summarily dismissed) become the biggest targets of the prevailing corporate vultures and their agents. I salute the employee sent away like garbage. I turn away in disgust from the perpetrators of this vile act. They cannot see or feel the loving care this person provided.
DeleteSadly, other dedicated and knowledgeable hospice staff left before this person and more are slated to voluntarily exit. It was predictable given the long steady push towards profit for a few and loss of care for the dying, with increasing burdens for the people giving care. Rather a reflection of our nation overall.
Bravo! And Amen!
Delete"Speaking out, standing up for yourself will get you fired" -Director of Operations/Executive Director
Deletehttps://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-CURO-Health-Services-RVW27655872.htm
A former Board member sold stock given to him by Humana for $901,000. Kindred Hospice execs just gave me a 12 cents an hour raise for busting my butt for years.
ReplyDeleteMy first raise in four years was a paltry $249.60. That is if I get to keep full time hours. Not feeling the love Mr. Causby. Please share some of your lottery level profits when Humana buys out WCAS and TPG Capital.
ReplyDeleteTurnover
ReplyDeletehttps://www.indeed.com/cmp/Kindred-Hospice/reviews?id=b0b3586accc9c552
Failure to pay for hours worked:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.indeed.com/cmp/Kindred-Hospice/reviews?id=a3244a4c04c2d130