Anyone been at a clinic taken over by DaVita or FMS?

lunden · Jan 26, 2009

hi, i used to work for gambro dialysis and we were bought by davita. nothing major happened, no one was fired or layed off. it was a very smooth changeover. and u r right about the techs. and nurses being the nuts and bolts of the place. good luck, hope this helped.

wordsmith · Jan 27, 2009

Thanks for letting me know. I'm not worried, I think the benefits will be better, with more employees in a large corporation = more buying power, but some people are getting kinda distressed. Knowing it was a smooth changeover helps.

CocoaGirl · Jan 30, 2009

Hello, our dialysis clinic was "acquired" about 2 years ago by Fresenius.

It was the most unorganized and difficult transition that could possibly have occured. I wish I was exaggerating when I tell you that there was a mass exit of staff. This company came in like a whirlwind - changed everything: benefits, supplies, dialysis machines, equipment, staff and it was complete chaos and still is to this day. Many of the staff were without health insurance for several months because of the red tape that we had to go through. The FMC staff that were to help with signing up for benefits were a joke. I had to fill out the forms not once, not twice but 3 times to get coverage. This was the norm for several of my co-workers also, the papers kept getting "lost". You will learn very quickly that it is the FMC way or no way. Forget about being autonomous, you are a number to this company. The staffing ratios were changed to save $$$$$, no one in the nusing staff were let go, but then again so many of the experienced staff left there was not enough to run things. We STILL have agency staff to this day because no one stays long enough through orientation to actually get out on the floor. I wish I could say that things got better as time went on, but it hasn't. All we ever hear about is cost, cost, cost. The large dialysis companies make it so hard for the independant ones to stay in business & the government (CMS) changes will make things worse. Good luck to you.

Valerie Salva, BSN, RN · Jan 30, 2009

Hello, our dialysis clinic was "acquired" about 2 years ago by Fresenius.
It was the most unorganized and difficult transition that could possibly have occured. I wish I was exaggerating when I tell you that there was a mass exit of staff. This company came in like a whirlwind - changed everything: benefits, supplies, dialysis machines, equipment, staff and it was complete chaos and still is to this day. Many of the staff were without health insurance for several months because of the red tape that we had to go through. The FMC staff that were to help with signing up for benefits were a joke. I had to fill out the forms not once, not twice but 3 times to get coverage. This was the norm for several of my co-workers also, the papers kept getting "lost". You will learn very quickly that it is the FMC way or no way. Forget about being autonomous, you are a number to this company. The staffing ratios were changed to save $$$$$, no one in the nusing staff were let go, but then again so many of the experienced staff left there was not enough to run things. We STILL have agency staff to this day because no one stays long enough through orientation to actually get out on the floor. I wish I could say that things got better as time went on, but it hasn't. All we ever hear about is cost, cost, cost. The large dialysis companies make it so hard for the independant ones to stay in business & the government (CMS) changes will make things worse. Good luck to you.

I agree 100% with the above post. Fresenius ruins every unit they take over, and most employees end up leaving.

wordsmith · Jan 30, 2009

Urk. Fresenius was one of the suits that came and looked at us. DaVita was one of the others. There were two or three more. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It's not my decision, unfortunately As I said in my original post, the reason the docs are giving up part of their independence, which is very difficult for them, is because of the CMS changes. We love our independent unit and we're sorry that it has to be this way to keep existing, but there just aren't enough group insurance patients to pick up the losses from the Medicare patients. Thanks for your answer.

lunden · Jan 30, 2009

wow hopefully u guys get bought by davita , bcuz as i stated b4 we hardly noticed anything at all

wordsmith · Jan 31, 2009

We're supposed to find out in the next several days. Our docs want a partnership so they still have some say in how things are run. We'll see how that works out. Our manager, who was promoted from the floor and who is well-liked, is trying to get us into compliance with stuff. It's hard for her because people are used to doing things any old way (not unsafe patient practice, but other stuff). The message she's trying to get across is, do you want to change now while you have time to get used to it with someone who cares, or when the corporate wonks come in and don't care, just want everyone to follow rules for the sake of following rules?

It sounds like we'd rather have DaVita, too, based on what people have posted. Keeping my fingers crossed :)

Kewlchik · Feb 7, 2009

I was at a Gambro unit that was bought by Davita. The only thing I noticed was that they combined some of the positions that we had in place and layed off a few people. It wasn't huge though. I think in my large clinic there were 2 people that lost their jobs or were redistributed/retrained as something else. One was an inventory tech (which now as Davita in our region is the responsibility of the AA) and because of Davita's applications and the way they verify insurance, our person that did that job was given a severance package. Other than that, the change was smooth. I love Davita as a company, I but think it is poorly run in my region. I wish you the best of luck with whatever company picks you up. BTW, where's the clinic located??

workingmomRN · Feb 8, 2009

I wouldn't worry too much about being laid off. Experienced dialysis workers are too scarce. FMC is not employee-oriented, but surprisingly, their benefits are better than Davita. FMC does match employee contributions to their 401k's, but Davita does not. That really surprises me because Davita is a large company. Either way, I hope it all works out well for you.

wordsmith · Feb 9, 2009

The clinic is in the Pacific Northwest. So far we haven't heard yet...Our current management team of doctors matches up to 3% of 401(k) contributions. The health insurance deductible is pretty high but they will reimburse part of that. There is a high separate deductible for going to the ER if it's not a life-threatening emergency, but the copay for urgent care is the same as an office visit. Clearly they don't want you going to the ER for a cold. Bereavement is generous--five days if you've been employed more than one year. If you have to use the Family Leave act, you've got to follow all the rules carefully, though, because some people wore out their welcome on taking leave, so now we all have to make sure everything is done properly to keep our jobs if we're off on family leave. It's still a really great place to work; we know the doctors, they know us, and we all know the patients well.

workingmomRN · Feb 10, 2009

Fresenius probably would not consider giving the doctors a partnership, I'm not sure about Davita. But the MD's would still be providing care for the patients, and one of the doctors would serve as the Medical Director. Both companies let the doctors have input about how they want the clinic run. The new CMS guidelines are so overwhelming, it's enough to make you crazy at times.