To Davita and my new friends here

[kin2pt]

Moderators, this is my first post here so if this is the wrong place please move it where it will be read and digested and hopefully contemplated - every word is true.

I would like to thank whoever it was at Davita that finally got rid of the worst FA that ever walked through the front door.  It took long enough - about 1 1/2 years but you finally did it.  Did you happen to hear the rejoicing coming from the patients, the staff, the doc's, the doc's staff, the transport folks, hospital security, even the delivery guys!!!!   This was a one woman wrecking crew that you hired.    Nobody on your staff checked into her background because if they had they would we wouldn't have been put through pure helll.  Her right hand moron - lets call her PeppyLaPue (hint hint) she is of the same mentality and needs to go next.  PeppyLaPue never stood up for what is right - was overheard saying "I don't give a 'F....' about these people, they are not my family!!!" to another nurse, real nice!   Peppy is burnt out and cares nothing for the patients and every one of them knows it.  She is rude, she is miserable and has a boat load of personal problems we all know about, yup even patients and their families.  She joyfully did whatever this FA told her to do and it was obvious she loved doing it - making other people miserable!!!   Please reassign her so she has no authority over others, give her paperwork and get her out of the unit.

My hope has been somewhat restored in Davita ... you did take action, you did finally listen to the complaints - but it took masses of them to many different people, it should never have taken so long.   I imagine it has something to do with the size of the company, little voices - even many of them - take so long to be heard and acted upon.

Please continue helping the patients at this unit (hospital based outside Philly), give PeppyLaPue a job where she has no affect on patients or staff lives and bring back all the good people who left because of this disgraceful FA and make the place whole again.  Wonderful kind and loving people who left because of her, we miss them, we trust them and want them back to care for our families.   This woman contacted patients at home, not to see how their tx's were going but only to build cases against her staff, patients were never her priority.   Good riddance to her ... but I do pity her next victims!

Thank you for allowing me to speak my mind here, hopefully it will do some good!   Take care all you renal patients, love to you all !!!!!! 

[Sluff]

You should report peppy to her supervisors. Write a letter and get signed affidavits they will eventually get the hint. In today's economy and shortage of jobs,  these employee's will have to really start watching there actions.

[bioya]

I would turn the unit in to the state and to the renal network. Somewhere in your unit there is a poster with numbers to call in a complaint. I can promise you that your name will not be released unless you want it to. Trust me, and this is from 6.5 years of management experience with Gambro/DaVita, the company will not do anything as long as the clinic makes money.  ROD's don't want to rock the boat if the clinic is making a profit, and it takes someone to rattle the cage and get their attention.  Something else you may want to do is file a complaint with the VP of your division. I am not sure if they have changed divisions since I left two and a half years ago, but you can find out who your Division VP is and get his address and name. If I am not mistaken, the guy that has PA ohhh.. hell, I can't remember his name... he is a really nice guy that cares. Lord.. he has a strange name... and his family is from south American or something like that.. I will try to find out more and If I can, I will post it. Good luck.

I FOUND IT... CALL THIS GUY....  Javier J Rodriguez. His office is in PA. Ask your unit for the address and/or number for the divisional office. The division name (another bullshit davita name) is Avanti.  I have met Javier.. he is a good man and he is one of the few leaders in DaVita that I have met that give a damn. Good luck.

Javier Rodriguez
 Senior VP
DaVita Inc

[dialysisbiller]

why the profanity?

Javier IS indeed a great guy. You must not have met alot. There are MANY good leaders there. But as within any company, there are some that would be not so great.

2 1/2 years ago? And you are still so negative.... bioya, I understand you are entitled to your opinion, but are you really helping dialysis patient's here by bashing the company? I mean 'wow'! you have some ill feelings and just won't let it go. I joined this board to try and help people with any insurance/billing issues they might come across or try to 'get it'.... life's too short to be so negative.

[Wenchie58]

Whoa....members here are allowed to rant and bash the "company"  matter of fact, we vent about many things.  It's what we do...support each other.

[kitkatz]

I agree with Wenchie, besides Davita leaves us so many things to bash.   When you are on this side of the needles you will understand more.

[dialysisbiller]

In any company, that has issues, if everyone just got up and left and said or did nothing to change it, how would anything improve?

I think patient care mainly depends on the region/area that you live not necessarily the company. I've heard the same bashing with other companies and not just DaVita. I had a neighbor who took her father to a DaVita center and she raved about the nurses and how he was treated. (He was on medicare so it wasn't a case of Private Insurance vs. gov't)

I believe if I was treated the way some say they have been, I'd be ranting here too but I'd also be ranting right up to someone who would hear me.

God bless you all for enduring.

[kitkatz]

I was very reluctant to go to a Davita center however I am on nocturnal now and find the team at night to be very smart and very caring. 

[Wallyz]

In any company, that has issues, if everyone just got up and left and said or did nothing to change it, how would anything improve?

I think patient care mainly depends on the region/area that you live not necessarily the company. I've heard the same bashing with other companies and not just DaVita. I had a neighbor who took her father to a DaVita center and she raved about the nurses and how he was treated. (He was on medicare so it wasn't a case of Private Insurance vs. gov't)

I believe if I was treated the way some say they have been, I'd be ranting here too but I'd also be ranting right up to someone who would hear me.

God bless you all for enduring.

Its  a bit different when the company in question "messes up" occasionally and kills dialysis patients.    Nationwide, DaVita has pursued a policy of aggressively understaffing and overscheduling.  They are being investigated for medicare fraud.  Not a few units, but the entire company.

[Zach]

Let us remember the poor folks at DaVita Centers in Lufkin, Texas and New York City, New York.

[dialysisbiller]

In any company, that has issues, if everyone just got up and left and said or did nothing to change it, how would anything improve?

I think patient care mainly depends on the region/area that you live not necessarily the company. I've heard the same bashing with other companies and not just DaVita. I had a neighbor who took her father to a DaVita center and she raved about the nurses and how he was treated. (He was on medicare so it wasn't a case of Private Insurance vs. gov't)

I believe if I was treated the way some say they have been, I'd be ranting here too but I'd also be ranting right up to someone who would hear me.

God bless you all for enduring.

Its  a bit different when the company in question "messes up" occasionally and kills dialysis patients.    Nationwide, DaVita has pursued a policy of aggressively understaffing and overscheduling.  They are being investigated for medicare fraud.  Not a few units, but the entire company.

Who told you that they are being investigated for fraud?

[dialysisbiller]

Let us remember the poor folks at DaVita Centers in Lufkin, Texas and New York City, New York.

sad and disgusting and down right shameful.

in the end, improvements will most likely happen, but sad it took so long and such a tragedy to get things to get better

again, I'd base my opinion as many as you have on personal experience at the local level center than company wide.

[nursewratchet]

I would turn the unit in to the state and to the renal network. Somewhere in your unit there is a poster with numbers to call in a complaint. I can promise you that your name will not be released unless you want it to. Trust me, and this is from 6.5 years of management experience with Gambro/DaVita, the company will not do anything as long as the clinic makes money.  ROD's don't want to rock the boat if the clinic is making a profit, and it takes someone to rattle the cage and get their attention.  Something else you may want to do is file a complaint with the VP of your division. I am not sure if they have changed divisions since I left two and a half years ago, but you can find out who your Division VP is and get his address and name. If I am not mistaken, the guy that has PA ohhh.. hell, I can't remember his name... he is a really nice guy that cares. Lord.. he has a strange name... and his family is from south American or something like that.. I will try to find out more and If I can, I will post it. Good luck.

I FOUND IT... CALL THIS GUY....  Javier J Rodriguez. His office is in PA. Ask your unit for the address and/or number for the divisional office. The division name (another bullshit davita name) is Avanti.  I have met Javier.. he is a good man and he is one of the few leaders in DaVita that I have met that give a damn. Good luck.

Javier Rodriguez
 Senior VP
DaVita Inc

 
 I konw Javier, he is a GREAT leader, and always listens to both patients and staff to do what is right.  Davita, like ALL companies has some good leaders, and some horrible leaders, who should work the graveyard shift at the cemetary, totally away from people...






EDITED:Fixed quote tag error-kitkatz,Moderator

[Wallyz]

In any company, that has issues, if everyone just got up and left and said or did nothing to change it, how would anything improve?

I think patient care mainly depends on the region/area that you live not necessarily the company. I've heard the same bashing with other companies and not just DaVita. I had a neighbor who took her father to a DaVita center and she raved about the nurses and how he was treated. (He was on medicare so it wasn't a case of Private Insurance vs. gov't)

I believe if I was treated the way some say they have been, I'd be ranting here too but I'd also be ranting right up to someone who would hear me.

God bless you all for enduring.

Its  a bit different when the company in question "messes up" occasionally and kills dialysis patients.    Nationwide, DaVita has pursued a policy of aggressively understaffing and overscheduling.  They are being investigated for medicare fraud.  Not a few units, but the entire company.

Who told you that they are being investigated for fraud?

http://medicareadvantagecongress.blogspot.com/2008/12/davita-gets-department-of-health.html

[dialysisbiller]

this does not automatically say that it is a case of fraud. these investigations have been going on for ALL dialysis centers for years.

here


http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/04/07/us_fraud_inquiry_targets_fresenius/


DaVita's last cleared investigation took 6 years with no fines and no restrictions because they did not find anything in the records indicating fraud.

Gambro wasn't so lucky. When DaVita aquired Gambo, they adopted all the restrictions on their CIA centers too.

[Brightsky69]

They are all corporations and the bottom line to them is profit.  Sometimes I think we are all just like heads of cattle to them.

[bioya]

why the profanity?

Javier IS indeed a great guy. You must not have met alot. There are MANY good leaders there. But as within any company, there are some that would be not so great.

2 1/2 years ago? And you are still so negative.... bioya, I understand you are entitled to your opinion, but are you really helping dialysis patient's here by bashing the company? I mean 'wow'! you have some ill feelings and just won't let it go. I joined this board to try and help people with any insurance/billing issues they might come across or try to 'get it'.... life's too short to be so negative.

If "BS" and "hell" upset you, then I am sorry I offended you. Let me tell you something Biller, when you work in the field, and do hands on with the patients, then you can tell me what to feel and what to say. DaVita is horrible. They spend MILLIONS of dollars a year... MILLIONS AND MILLIONS to brain wash employees (oops "teammates") at academies and to party down at the yearly national meetings. Nothing said or done at these meetings can't be done on a conference call and/or video conference. KT and his hench men are nothing but greedy leaches. They make MILLIONS of dollars a year while the patients can't even get sure-seals and decent equipment in their clinics.
I tell you want biller, you go and get trainign to stick patients and clean puke and whip blood and cry with the patients when one of their friends in the next chair has passed away. Then you come on here and tell me what the real world is like. These patients live a horrible life. Hope for most is a transplant, but the reality for many is that it won't happen. Then you sit in their chair and listen to the moaning and bitching by the staff cause they have to stay over an hour cause "so and so" would not clot. Then they bitch about their hours and they salary. Then sit down and freeze your butt off for four hours and have some guy beside you farting the whole shift.  I loved my patients like family. I cried when I went to a funeral or two every month to say goodbye to a patient that I had known for years. I miss my job and my patients but I know that I have no future in a company where the patietn is second but profit and pay  at the corporate level is the most important thing. I can't stand to listen to KT brag and kiss his own butt one more time, one more minute, at one more meeting. It was always the same... LOOK AT ME.. I AM THE GREATEST THING TO HAPPEN TO HEALTH CARE....
Ok, I am rambling. But my point is, you sit in your billing office and don't see the patients face to face, don't help them, don't care for them, don't cry for them when they pass away. You live your life in your cubical.... but when you want to live reality.. go to work a month or so in your local clinic and become your patients friend... then talk to me.  "ill feeling", "just wont let it go". Well your right.. I won't let it go till DaVita starts caring about the patient and not the profit.

[dialysisbiller]

i guess my personality isn't like yours, if i see something going on that i disagree with, i do what i can to fix it. i can't give up.

and i work in the corporate end because the world needs ditch diggers.... in every medical field there has to be someone doing the billing

i'm not a nurse and i see the nurses and all those who work at the center level as amazing people who help patients on a personal level.

you have your opinions, i have mine, i agree to disagree with some of your views on DaVita.

[Wenchie58]

Ok, I've got to offer my  here...and if I offend anyone I apologize up front. 

No one....and I do mean NO ONE who works in an office on the admin side of a company knows what goes on at the "front line" level.  I know this as fact.  To come to a site such as this and tell people who are sick and often fighting to continue to live their lives with as much joy and peace as possible that they are "negative" is wrong!  Comparable to poking your finger in an open wound.

Coming here claiming to be here to "help patients" and then stirring things up because people don't do things right....or don't fight the company hard enough is misleading AND stressful to those "patients".

I love the folks I have met on this site...those currently undergoing dialysis, those (like myself) who have kidneys of blessed donors working inside our bodies.  These people are strong, caring of each other, positive in the fact that they want to live and live well.  Anyone who sits back and pays attention to what is said in these posts and reads between the lines to see the heart and soul of the matter.  They want to be treated as human beings...with care and that isn't happening.  Not always, but for many.  Every situation is different as nurses, FA's and techs are different.  Some care...to some its a paycheck.  See the hurt and understand the frustration.  Step back from being defensive...these are people...with bad kidneys.....but great hearts and I will defend them forever.  But then.....I'm not a "company man".

I got through that without ONE curse word.  Sometimes I amaze me!

[willieandwinnie]

Ok, I've got to offer my  here...and if I offend anyone I apologize up front. 

No one....and I do mean NO ONE who works in an office on the admin side of a company knows what goes on at the "front line" level.  I know this as fact.  To come to a site such as this and tell people who are sick and often fighting to continue to live their lives with as much joy and peace as possible that they are "negative" is wrong!  Comparable to poking your finger in an open wound.

Coming here claiming to be here to "help patients" and then stirring things up because people don't do things right....or don't fight the company hard enough is misleading AND stressful to those "patients".

I love the folks I have met on this site...those currently undergoing dialysis, those (like myself) who have kidneys of blessed donors working inside our bodies.  These people are strong, caring of each other, positive in the fact that they want to live and live well.  Anyone who sits back and pays attention to what is said in these posts and reads between the lines to see the heart and soul of the matter.  They want to be treated as human beings...with care and that isn't happening.  Not always, but for many.  Every situation is different as nurses, FA's and techs are different.  Some care...to some its a paycheck.  See the hurt and understand the frustration.  Step back from being defensive...these are people...with bad kidneys.....but great hearts and I will defend them forever.  But then.....I'm not a "company man".

I got through that without ONE curse word.  Sometimes I amaze me!

Very well said Wenchie. 

[Zach]

... i work in the corporate end because the world needs ditch diggers....

Who are the real ditch diggers?

1.  The Patients
2.  The Nurses and Patient Care Technicians
3.  The person in the Reuse Room
4.  The person who takes out the garbage and cleans the blood from the floor

[paris]

Walk a mile in my shoes--------- no one knows until they have been there.  Wenchie said it very well.  My neph can't fully understand because he is healthy.  My nurses are able to go to work every day.   I can't.    My daughter in law works for the Catholic churches raising money for their schools.  But, she knows nothing about being a teacher.   Same difference if you are in the corporate office or in the dialysis center.    We are glad you are here, biller.  Take a little time to get to know us and you will see an amazing group of people living with hope every day.  We are very optomistic and supportive.   Enjoy the site.  There is more information here than any place on the internet.   

[paddbear0000]

I got through that without ONE curse word.  Sometimes I amaze me!

Way to go Wenchie!!     Now I have a question. What is an FA? Sorry, but I'm very new to this dialysis thing.

[willieandwinnie]

paddbear, I believe that FA is Facility Administrator. I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong. 

[Wenchie58]

Thats what I understand an FA to be!