Medical staffing company just slashed benefits for doctors, nurses battling COVID-19 OHIO
Last edited Wed Apr 1, 2020, 06:52 AM - Edit history (1)
Source: Raw Story
Published 5 hours ago
on March 31, 2020
Emergency room doctors and nurses many of whom are dealing with an onslaught of coronavirus patients and shortages of protective equipment are now finding out that their compensation is getting cut.
Most ER providers in the U.S. work for staffing companies that have contracts with hospitals. Those staffing companies are losing revenue as hospitals postpone elective procedures and non-coronavirus patients avoid emergency rooms. Health insurers are processing claims more slowly as they adapt to a remote workforce.
Despite the risks our providers are facing, and the great work being done by our teams, the economic challenges brought forth by COVID-19 have not spared our industry, Steve Holtzclaw, the CEO of Alteon Health, one of the largest staffing companies, wrote in a memo to employees on Monday.
The memo announced that the company would be reducing hours for clinicians, cutting pay for administrative employees by 20%, and suspending 401(k) matches, bonuses and paid time off. Holtzclaw indicated that the measures were temporary but didnt know how long they would last.
https://www.propublica.org/article/coronavirus-er-doctors-nurses-benefits
Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/huge-medical-staffing-company-just-slashed-benefits-for-doctors-and-nurses-battling-covid-19-outbreak/
This affects University Hospitals Employees in Cleveland, Ohio.
I've gotten confirmation from colleagues tonight that they have received a memo stating up to a 20% pay cut.....all while running out of PPE's and risking their lives!
Many planning on leaving when shit hits the fan, terrified of risking death to themselves and their families.
Doctors and nurses are afraid to speak to the media for fear of repercussion.
Please keep this K&R'd.
This is a major hospital system in Cleveland, a competitor of the Cleveland Clinic.
This is getting fucking insane.
Might as well throw them all to the wolves.
LittleGirl
(8,287 posts)Kick em while theyre down.
Damn it. Total system needs to be rewired. Gaaaaaaaa
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)Its not like medical professionals are not in rather high demand at the moment.
OhioChick
(23,218 posts)People will be left to die due to this decision made by Alteon Health.
The Cleveland Clinic won't be able to handle the brunt of it, if doctors and nurses walk away from University Hospitals. I can't say I blame them though.
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)But their skills will likely save people elsewhere. Its not a great trade off but, there are no good solutions these days.
OhioChick
(23,218 posts)https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/03/30/intermountain-is-cutting/
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)This ill considered decision.
OhioChick
(23,218 posts)The public will ultimately suffer when doctors and nurses leave.
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)DenverJared
(457 posts)Licensing issues make it impossible to go to states where they don't have a license.
Also, all the ER jobs within the state are staffed by one or two companies with similar policies and pay.
OhioChick
(23,218 posts)But I believe you're correct.
I think in my area it's either Alteon Health or TeamHealth.
TEB
(12,842 posts)Sorry for my language Im union
BComplex
(8,050 posts)These employees need to go out on contract NOW!
Sunriser13
(612 posts)More and more the faults of the privatization of, well, everything have started shining through.
What's even more disgusting is that once this crisis is under control, little will change.
gab13by13
(21,337 posts)and gotten any of that bail out money? Why didn't they, or did they?
Grokenstein
(5,722 posts)It's eventually going to reach a point where we stop joking about pitchforks and tumbrels and guillotines.
People are dying.
Their survivors are going to be very angry at anyone who caused their needless death.
Dennis Donovan
(18,770 posts)Please use this link. RawStory lifted the content from the news org that actually produced the story (and who really could use your support).
OhioChick
(23,218 posts)Dennis Donovan
(18,770 posts)ProPublica is an investigative news org and does exceptional work, but are run on donations. RawStory is an aggregate site that basically reprints other's work (robbing the source of clicks and revenue).
Here's their donation page: https://donate.propublica.org/give/203438/#!/donation/checkout
OhioChick
(23,218 posts)Chainfire
(17,537 posts)The only purpose of a corporation is to make money, employees are a commodity to be exploited and discarded. Morals, ethics, and humanity has no place in the system.
Response to Chainfire (Reply #16)
Locrian This message was self-deleted by its author.
elias7
(3,999 posts)These national groups are bad news. When they come in to a city, most of the docs choose not to work with them because they dont treat them well, as evidenced here. The way they make money is by getting out of town docs to come in and work and then charge patients for out of network care, called surprise billing or balance billing. They have been charged and I have settled cases in which they give kickbacks to doctors for inappropriate admissions or transfers. They engage in aggressive billing collection agencies.
Our ER group just fought off an attempt by the hospital to open up the process to a national group; it was so poorly received in our community that they decided to keep our group.
This type of behavior is not a surprise. All of these groups are owned by global investment firms, i.e. hedge funds. Their bottom line is profit.
OhioChick
(23,218 posts)Duppers
(28,120 posts)Another facet of disaster capitalism that Naomi Klein wrote about in the
Shock Doctrine.
There is no reason this president has no federal policy to manufacture PPEs for ALL health care workers NOW.
Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)voted against impeaching tRump should lose their pay and benefits. That includes the wimpy John Roberts. They were not thinking about the good of the country, only their Russian donations. Moscow Mitch is a multi millionaire, as are a lot of the others. They could afford to "work" free. They propped up the worst of the worst and look where it has taken us. We are a broken country, thanks to the ineffective gop. Now medical staff has to risk their lives daily, for WHAT?
UpInArms
(51,283 posts)This is wrong in so many ways ....
The privatization of hospitals... the unregulated capitalist society ... when only those at the top flourish, while those below perish and beg ...
IronLionZion
(45,441 posts)the greatest health care system in the world.
I get that most of the surge is for ICU/Pulmonary type care for COVID patients. But people don't stop getting other illnesses or injuries. I would hope that people are having fewer injuries by staying home but they are mostly avoiding the ER and hospital because of COVID. I wouldn't want to be near highly infectious patients if I didn't have to.
UpInArms
(51,283 posts)Emergency room doctors and nurses many of whom are dealing with an onslaught of coronavirus patients and shortages of protective equipment are now finding out that their compensation is getting cut.
Most ER providers in the U.S. work for staffing companies that have contracts with hospitals. Those staffing companies are losing revenue as hospitals postpone elective procedures and non-coronavirus patients avoid emergency rooms. Health insurers are processing claims more slowly as they adapt to a remote workforce.
Despite the risks our providers are facing, and the great work being done by our teams, the economic challenges brought forth by COVID-19 have not spared our industry, Steve Holtzclaw, the CEO of Alteon Health, one of the largest staffing companies, wrote in a memo to employees on Monday.
The memo announced that the company would be reducing hours for clinicians, cutting pay for administrative employees by 20%, and suspending 401(k) matches, bonuses and paid time off. Holtzclaw indicated that the measures were temporary but didnt know how long they would last.
Its completely demoralizing, said an Alteon clinician who spoke on the condition of anonymity. At this time, of all times, were putting ourselves at risk but also putting our families at risk.
https://www.propublica.org/article/coronavirus-er-doctors-nurses-benefits/amp
OhioChick
(23,218 posts)UpInArms
(51,283 posts)1964: Medicare is socialized medicine
In his 1964 Senate race, George ridiculed his opponent for voting for medical care for the aged. He compared the bill to a federal program to air-condition ship holds for apes and baboons, dubbing it "medical air for the caged."
George seemed to have regressed. His 1964 campaign was opposed to everything his father represented: civil rights, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, open housing, Medicare. George called Medicare "socialized medicine" and Martin Luther King Jr. "a militant."
Source: The Family, by Kitty Kelley, p.216 & 218 , Sep 14, 2004
UpInArms
(51,283 posts)In 1992, President George Herbert Walker Bush was surrounded by spiraling health care costs and 37 million uninsured families. Beholden to health care industry PACs, Bush produced no plan other than a minuscule tax cut and telling people not to drink or smoke and to wear their seat belts. He tried to turn any discussion about controlling costs into hammers and sickles.
When some Democrats in Congress talked about a more national health care system, Bush railed, ''I am going to fight a nationalized, socialized medicine approach for this country.'' Bush added, ''They think socialized medicine - everything provided by the government, totally government-controlled medical care is just the ticket ... It's also the ticket for treatment waiting lines. Anyone who has spent months checking the mail for that income tax refund or tried to track down a missing Social Security check or wasted a day in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles is going to think long and hard before the let the government play doctor.''
Eight years later, Bush's son, George W., is running for president. Now we have 44 million Americans without health insurance. (The senior Bush may have lost with his redbaiting, but the health care industry did not.)
Democratic rival Al Gore has scored points with voters by seizing upon health care. Gore has singled out some drug companies for price gouging and promised health insurance for all children and a prescription drug benefit. Gore says America should move ''step by step'' toward universal coverage. That may be too incremental for hard-core advocates of a national system, but it is light years ahead of George W., who had no plan coming out of his convention. His new, economy-sized prescription drug plan was crafted so as to not offend health care industries like pharmaceuticals, which give three times more money to the Republican Party than to the Democratic Party.
This leaves George W. reaching into his daddy's tackle box to pull out more red bait. His press aides call Gore's attack on pharmaceuticals a ''nationalized drug plan,'' ''similar to Hillary Clinton's attempt to nationalize health care.''
http://graphics.boston.com/news/politics/campaign2000/news/Bush_s_strategy_on_health_care_like_father_like_son+.shtml
Lonestarblue
(9,988 posts)Allowing the great white sharks of the business world to have any part of our healthcare system is a guarantee of poor healthcare and bad pay and benefits.
Raven123
(4,838 posts)Ford_Prefect
(7,896 posts)turbinetree
(24,695 posts)seriously..........................this is just fucked up................private equity investments..................
questionseverything
(9,654 posts)lotta peops on du want no part of m4a so I guess they are fine with the actions of this board, afterall if money has to be made in healthcare there are going to be some casualties
ProfessorGAC
(65,021 posts)Couldn't find a link to their cash position, but I did find there was no information on the net about investments by the company. Their competitor field was filled with companies in the billions.
The CEO gets a rating of 70%, so this is about Glassdoor's average of 69.
Meaning he's clearly not a star. But, it does mean 70% of employees approve of him.
I'm guessing that number takes a tumble.
A smallish med care firm with no investing & no published cash position.
Sounds like 70 is already too high!
UpInArms
(51,283 posts)NAME/COMPANY
Vignesh M Aier
New Mountain Capital LLC
Nader J Naini
Frazier Management LLC
Andre V Moura
New Mountain Capital LLC
They all link back to New Mountain Capital
https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/person/18079837
New Mountain Capital, L.L.C. operates as a private equity firm. The Company manages private and public equity and credit capital. New Mountain Capital serves customers in the United States.
SECTOR
Financials
INDUSTRY
Asset Management
SUB-INDUSTRY
Private Equity
FOUNDED
03/17/2004
ADDRESS
787 7th Avenue 49th Floor New York, NY 10019 United States
PHONE
1-212-720-0300
WEBSITE
www.newmountaincapital.com
NO. OF EMPLOYEES
--
They are a private company ... not traded unlucky, so little information is available
OhioChick
(23,218 posts)Alteon Health is catching hell on Twitter.
I did read an article that said that TeamHealth would never do this to staff during a pandemic and aren't even considering it.
rickyhall
(4,889 posts)SpankMe
(2,957 posts)OhioChick
(23,218 posts)That is why I was extremely disappointed to see a recent article published that mischaracterized these actions. We have not cut clinical rates for providers in the field. In fact, doctors and other clinicians who are working more hours on COVID-related cases will get paid more than they would have previously. At the same time, we have expanded eligibility for our clinician health benefits, and we are paying doctors who are self-isolating.
As we build resources for the COVID-19 fight, we are reducing administrative costs but not at the expense of clinicians, as there are fewer needs for non-COVID cases as people stay home more than ever. In situations where there is a surge of clinical need, we will ensure full coverage and support of our valued clinicians.
Sincerely,
Steve Holtzclaw, M.D.
Source: https://www.alteonhealth.com/alteon-health-issues-update-on-covid-19-actions/
Prior to this position Steve Holtzclaw was the president of TeamHealth (the group that employed the doctor in Washington that got fired for speaking out on the Peace Health not providing PPE).
Source: https://www.alteonhealth.com/alteon-health-appoints-dr-steve-holtzclaw-chief-executive-officer/
They removed their management team information from their website. (to protect the guilty?)
Here's a link to the internet archive that shows who these scumbags are:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190608144045/https://www.alteonhealth.com/home-page/about/
Scroll down to the bottom and meet the "team".
Duppers
(28,120 posts)OhNo-Really
(3,985 posts)Grokenstein
(5,722 posts)GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)They dont care. They are shocked most Americans do.
Turbineguy
(37,329 posts)medicine may be involved.
ck4829
(35,076 posts)Withywindle
(9,988 posts)Medical workers need to be protected and cared for at all costs. They are literally the most important people in the country right now. And they're getting sick and dying. And a corporation pulls THIS shit?