Anyone work for American Healthways?

SWRN84 · Nov 15, 2005

I have not worked for American Healthways, but recently worked at Optum. Many, many of the nurses there had quit Am. Healthways for the Optum job. From what I understood from them......you hardly ever got a break and they described it as a stressful work environment. They used dialers, and patient calls popped up one right after the other very quickly. They were adamant about strict break times. One girl said, she knew she had exactly 6 minutes for a bathroom break. Probably 1/4 of the nurses I worked with at Optum, were recent former employees of American Healthways and did not recommend it. They also said they were expected to work late hours even when they were "promised" to be shifted to a day shift. That did not happen for many of them. I actually can't say I heard a lot of positive things about Am. Healthways.....but again, I have not worked there personally so cannot speak from experience....only from former employees and here say.

funnygirl_rn · Nov 16, 2005

Thanks for replying. I recently went on an interview and you are correct, they do use dialers. They said they want their call times to be at least 12 minutes and you usually make 3 calls within an hour. I inquired about days, but they said the only shifts available are either 10:30 am or 1230pm. You can work 8 hr shifts, 3/10's or 4/10's. The pay was low, but the benefits appeared nice. However, if there is a load of stress...why work there.

Another question, maybe I should make a new post as well. Have you heard of Magellan Health Services? Any infor again would be appreciated. I am lining up an interview with this company as well. I did read that they went bankrupt and started back up again.

Thanks!

wincha · Nov 29, 2005

I wonder where you live and what areas Optum covers.

There are multiple adds for AM here and each say different hours. 8-8 or 6am to 9 ect... 1 weekend every 6 weeks days then 1 w/e every 5 weeks evenings. It makes me wonder which they are lookiing for. I think I answered one of them. I would only be interested if it gave me CM experience right now the job I do is taking call for docs on the phones. What type of pay does Optum or AM pay?

wincha · Nov 29, 2005

Another question, maybe I should make a new post as well. Have you heard of Magellan Health Services? Any infor again would be appreciated. I am lining up an interview with this company as well. I did read that they went bankrupt and started back up again.

Thanks!

didn't intelliview buy them out? what city do you live in?

funnygirl_rn · Dec 1, 2005

Wicha, I PM'ed you.

wincha · Jan 24, 2006

Thanks for replying. I recently went on an interview and you are correct, they do use dialers. They said they want their call times to be at least 12 minutes and you usually make 3 calls within an hour. I inquired about days, but they said the only shifts available are either 10:30 am or 1230pm. You can work 8 hr shifts, 3/10's or 4/10's. The pay was low, but the benefits appeared nice. However, if there is a load of stress...why work there.
Another question, maybe I should make a new post as well. Have you heard of Magellan Health Services? Any infor again would be appreciated. I am lining up an interview with this company as well. I did read that they went bankrupt and started back up again.
Thanks!

what was the pay that is considered to be low?

gwheltle · Feb 14, 2006

I worked for Am. Healthways (It's now called "Healthways") for about 2 1/2 months in Columbia, MD. The physical working environment was wonderful- but the management is very poor- absolutely 0 respect for their employees and the nursing middle management (LCM-leader care managers and DCM-director care managers) did not impress me in the least bit w/ their management skills- From my observations the upper management seems to hire people into these positions who will function as puppets- the way they treat their fellow nurses is an absolute disgrace to the profession- they dock nurses of pay if you are a few minutes late, but expect nurses to stay after their shift ends if they are on a call. If you ask to be compensated for staying later- they say you took too long on your call and you need to work on redirecting. They listened in on calls all of the time (that didn't bother me-b/c I realized that was part of their job description) but they had such an impolite way of talking to nurses about lenght, documentation, and what was wrong with the call-They don't really offer constructive comments b/c I really don't think they have a broad enough knowledge base about the diseases they are trying to educate the public about. They are trying to win a huge contract w/ the federal government where they will call Medicare recipients w/ chronic conditions such as CHF and diabetes- and by talking about the standards of care which should be in place for their conditions they will help keep them from having exacerbations and repeat hospitalizations. This is a great concept- but the way they are going about it is all wrong b/c they can't keep nurses. They are just plain NOT NICE to their employees. They even discourage coworkers from talking to each other- it was such a big brother atmosphere. The knowledge base of basic pathophysiology was lacking big time w/ management- this really bothered me -The company threw so much money into this program, but didn't take the time to find nurses who knew very much about CHF, diabetes. One of the most recent insulting things I heard they did from another nurse who recently left was - Sometime after hours - the management moved everyones belongings to another cubicle (they call them curvicles)- when nurses showed up for work the next day they had to find their new seat. Now I can see reasons for moving people around- but not to tell someone they are going to do this is so disrespectful. Pictures were taken down, personal belongings on desks were just picked up and moved w/out telling them. Apparently (another thing I have heard through the grapevine) they are actually scheduling when nurses are to take breaks and go to lunch. Out of the original 60 nurses I was hired w/ there are about 15 left- and from what I hear they are looking too. They have hired many other groups since June-and many of those nurses have resigned. Another thing that bothered me was - The managememt (the middle guys who I guess are just trying to keep their jobs) seemed to look down on nurses who were intelligent- I felt like most of them felt very threatened if you began talking to them about the diseases they are supposed to be knowledgable in- If they get this government contract it will be a true waste of our tax payer dollars!

wincha · Feb 14, 2006

I sent you a pm.

wincha · Feb 14, 2006

Why do they move their employees? I was told they do this at the interview. I was also told they pull down a screen on the first day of orientation to choose your shift that you will work. How do they pick who chooses their shift first?

funnygirl_rn2 · Feb 16, 2006

Gwheltle - Thanks for the informative post regarding Am Healthways or rather Healthways, either way sounds like a sweatbox to me. You mentioned you only worked there for 2 1/2 months...that bad, eh...lol!! You saved me alot of aggravation..., because if the higher ups/mgt treat the nurses shabby, forbid them to converse with their colleages, move their personal belonging to another cubicle without informing their employees & then have them come in/wander around to look for their respective desk, cannot give them constructive feed-back which is vital to their position....no wonder they can't keep nurses...grrrrrr! When I interviewed with them, I felt they were very disorganized & rude as well. I waited over 30 mins in the lobby, along with other nurses in the waiting room prior to getting interviewed by the HR woman (M.H.). Once I sat down in her office I had to wait, since the HR woman took a call, then had to leave (left me sitting in her office for 20 mins), then a LCM interviewed me & we had to move to two different offices for her to conduct her interview with me. Afterwards she took me on a tour & someone who knew me (I couldn't see that far away to figure out who she was), waved at me a few times to get my attention & the LCM asked if I knew who that was, I politely told her that I couldn't see that far away. I assumed she knew, thought she might tell me, but she just frowned...?? What was that about?? Anyways, that was that...I then got called later that week regarding another position & took it...since Am Healthways took too long to get back to me. The LCM informed me that I would be contacted within 2-3 days; I told her that I was interviewing for another position & it would be nice to know. I emailed & call the HR lady & she never returned my calls or emails. Well, 2 weeks went by, then they called & offered me a position. Glad I didn't take it. Thanks again for the post, I feel bad for the nurses that are working there after reading your post.

wincha · Feb 16, 2006

Maybe its the location you interview with. I wasn't kept waiting long. The RN was very nice and we had a good interview. However she recognized me from years past when we worked in the same hospital so maybe thats why. I found her very pleasant. She got back to me quickly on a question that I had. I was called back in the time frame I was given. I have an offer on the table and have just finished interviewing at a couple of other places and will weigh which will fit with me better. I was told of the moving of the cubes but didn't think they did this when you were not there. That is strange. Now my phone is ringing off the hook with places that want to interview me. I guess when it rains it pours. There is one place I think which will be a great fit and am looking forward to seeing what happens. Thanks for the info. This is a good place to see what is out there. I went up on the elevator with another RN who said that AH was a great place to work at. Maybe some offices are run better than others.