Intro

I am a social worker with DuhVita. I worked for Gambro, then of course, we got bought out. Now Gambro wasn't the greatest, but not a day goes by that I don't watch what is going on in these clinics and just shake my head. Now, I know I'm only a social worker, but come on, I wasn't born yesterday. For one thing they changed the job description from being a clinical social worker, to being an insurance clerk. They have listed the CMS mandated duties at the top on the description, but in private they explain that the job duties are not listed in any particular order. (Insurance is the top priority!) Then I try to explain the spirit of the CMS mandate, and they label me "trouble", and begin to set me up for dismissal. Well, again, I was not born yesterday, so, I confront all this stuff referring back to "patient care" as our main reason for showing up every day. That patients deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and we should be encouraging patients to know as much as they can, participate in their care, we need to respect their decisions and offer support and encouragement to patients and families and caregivers as they determine the need. I am told by these are all well and good, but we need to be paid and that is the greatest need of the patients to have full insurance coverage. Well, I think these robots running the company and the clinics underestimate my committment to my profession. So, I am making calls to CMS, to the state, to the area renal Network, and to the social work organizations. CMS has been the most helpful. I haven't seen it mentioned in the posts I have reviewed, but the CMS has proposed new Conditions of Coverage for ESRD. The new CoC will come out next year. I hope patients knew about the proposals and made their comments known. I tried to make sure patients in my clinic knew about the proposal and offered to fax their comments during that period. A worker at CMS advised me where to find DuhVita's comments on the proposed conditions. Like a good little researcher I found the comments, I admit I was most interested in the social worker section, and let me say, it was quite enlightening. So as it happens, some other social workers must have had the same idea, and the CoC was sent to all the social workers. Well, there was quite an uproar which resulted in us bad children losing our privilege to email other social workers. Bad, Bad, Bad children! So, the saga continues.....
A former coworker stated she thought the honchos were Scientologists because they have a "bridge" at the headquarters for "teammates" to cross when they are ready. I have stated since very early on that it is very cultish, that they take you to those meeting to insert chips in people to make them "cross the bridge" or as another poster said, "drink the koolaid". Evidently a bridge is significant in Scientloogy, though I haven't researched it. I have watched as the company sets unreachable "quality assurance" goals. I have watched as patients are really treated like items on an assembly line. I have watched as co workers have bought into this garbage and become like the characters in Westworld. I have learned that it is very much a "my way or the highway" mentality. I just can't believe that there are so many desperate or stupid people to buy into all this. Part of the problem is that people are desperate to hold onto their jobs. Another issue is that, IMO, people don't want to think about what is happening because then they might have to act. I really can't talk to the patients at my clinic about these things, I'd lose my job before my mission is accomplished. It is good to see that some people, patients and staff alike, are thoughtful enough to see through the lies. I know I have dragged on, maybe too long, but I'm glad to have found you. Thanks a lot.