Is there another Shut down coming??

A Facebook post went out by the supervisor in Bakersfield, asking HER friends in the area if people would like to work at a call center in Bakersfield. It was then asked "does that mean Lexington would be closed" and with no response, the post was deleted.

So my question is Lexington getting shut down. When is the lease on the building going to end and are lay offs coming. Chris H just announced that the level 3 team in Lexington are getting more work cleaning up non billing accounts before the California centers start the new software program. What happens after those reports are cleaned up? what will happen to Lexington??

From what everyone who uses the new system says its horrible.

The Lexington branch only sees the poorly run side of the company. IF we had better leaders this would be a awesome job. The patients are great, the work we do is great and rewarding when you have the tools to do it right.
I miss the days of Chis Kane when we actually had a leader and not a hidden away monarch. Queen Janeabeth wouldn't think twice about coming to see the peasants and hearing our unworthy words. People may have complained about Cris Ks calls but he was dedicated and at least he was verbal and acted like he cared. The company failed when they let him go and it wasn't his fault. The shitty training, PCCs who corrupted the system and the GMs, DOMS and DSMs who let it happen are the reason why PPS had to sell off parts of the company, lay off educated and invaluable people and why PPS is not profitable. They over work the center reps, don't hire enough techs in the field and communication is shit EVERYWHERE.

The Lexington director doesn't even come out of his office to speak to anyone below his pay grade unless its Christmas,(which was nice), supervisors barley speak to their employees unless you are a favorite, meetings are nonexistent and they only care about adherence and numbers but the systems that are recording those numbers don't F***ing WORK!!! If you are in inbound or outbound, the word bonus is like a mythical creature. The only thing that is communicated is a quick "sign this, you f***ed up and we need to document it" NOT, "thanks for helping that patient who was hysterical." People are leaving left and right because there is no hope we will have a job because no one communicates.
Any time an issue is raised to better help the team or an issue comes up where there is a problem, it is ignored but as long as you phone can dial out and rings, business as usual. Communication is shit. Someone please clear up some of this shit please. I wish Teijin would come to each of the centers and have a round table meeting with everyone in the company that is not management OR supervisors. Or better yet, how about an HR rep come around and talk to everyone about their issues.

 

If you think Kane was something you are sadly mistaken. The guy knew he and his team were in dire straights long before the masses yet did nothing about it. He knew the entire sales force was rife with crooked reps and promoted the practices that were downright illegal. He got what he deserved long before you have as you are still with a job. The fact that he built some billing or customer service facility in Lexington of all places has no connection to any logical thought process whatsoever. A Bakersfield operation makes much more sense has it allows people who know and understand the business reasonable access to it. Yes Jane has her own issues and they will catch up to her soon enough but shutting down KY is one of the smartest things that can be done.

 

The above reply makes no sense as compliance, corporate, etc is out of California and is feeding their knowledge or lack thereof to Lexington. Proximity to corporate doesn't make a difference. The logic of opening a remote call center is to effectively handle workloads in a systematic and organized environment in a cost effective manner, as many businesses do. PPS branches were doing whatever they saw fit as opposed to following Medicare guidelines, THAT was the reason for opening a call center in Lexington, KY.

 

Respectfully, Kelly was in charge when the decision was made to centralize things to Lex. But I suppose facts are optional here.

 

Must say, this person is right.

 

Let's be honest. The field hates Lexington because Lexington does everything by the book. They follow Medicare guidelines to the letter and can see all of the unethical and illegal activity that takes place in the field. After the layoff in 2014, it took approximately six weeks for the field to realize how much Lexington did for them. Doc performance went from the 90th percentile down to the 60th percentile in most regions. They came crawling back. Now the DOM's once again think they can do without Lexington.
At the end of the last fiscal year there was a mad rush to clean up the books. Countless 60 month cap patients were unknowingly sent bills of sale because there wasn't even an attempt made to acquire the proper documentation to keep these patients on service. Megan Gallegos was the primary offender in this unethical undertaking. Hundreds of very ill patients were unable to order portables so she could get her bonus and buy another pair of Louboutin's. It's a numbers game and the patients suffer. When I left PPS a month ago I had over 200 accounts on my spreadsheet and about 90% of them had no qualifying continuous testing on file but the patients were receiving several tanks per week for which we had never billed. It's no wonder PPS is not profitable.
The location of the call center will not matter. As long as the DOM's and PCC's are able to do whatever they please to get their commissions and bonuses this company is screwed. The employees in Lexington are good, honest people who genuinely care about the PPS patients. It's such a shame that these ill patients, fighting for their next breath, have to depend on the likes of the greedy, unethical people in the field.

 

Bingo!

 

QUOTE="anonymous, post: 5605072"]Respectfully, Kelly was in charge when the decision was made to centralize things to Lex. But I suppose facts are optional here.[/QUOTE]
I never specified who I thought made the decision...I'm just saying Lexington gets a bad rap for no reason. You're singing California's praises yet they were singing like canaries when the FBI showed up. Willingly or unwillingly. How is it in the company's best interests to pool all of their resources at the doorstep of corruption? I'd say they made a decent decision to centralize. Time to clean house in Cali and any branches pulling shady sh*t so PPS can run an honest business no matter where the paperwork is done.

 

Stephanie, Couldn't have said it any better. Everyone in Lexington knows whats coming. To the person who posted the comment on Feb 1, That's cool J, Its all yours so when the FBI comes knocking on your door because of all the fraud, remember Lexington tried to warn you. Just take care of our patients.

 

"Some billing or customer service facility in Lexington of all places?" Really??? You must be in a box somewhere tucked away and never really worked a oxygen account from beginning to end. You obviously have no idea of what took place in Lexington or just how hard those people work. As for Kane, not saying he was a saint but at least he had people skills. Maybe you should look up the definition of outsourcing. Its a thing businesses do and it works most of the time if the rest of the company doesn't commit fraud.
Oh yea by the way, the new BT system is a great way to loose patients in the "conversion". If the FBI is smart they will go investigate everything before the new system is completely active and the old system is gone.

 

Stephanie is absolutely, 100% on target with her response. The first reply about it making sense to close lexington was the typical, garbage nonsense we hear from field reps who are either clueless or in denial. For years we have seen them alter documents, make up bogus prescriptions, continually deliver to patients that they aren't even trying to get to billing and make colossal messes out of inventory by making up bogus serial numbers, just to name a few of the shady habits that are commonplace in the centers. And maybe the saddest part is that this has been brought to managements attention countless times yet the same reps are still doing the same unethical, immoral and illegal things that should at very least get them fired and probably held personally liable for! The best thing PPS could do is get rid of 90% of the field reps, rebuild the Lexington staff and turn ALL doc support over to them. The field csrs should do nothing more than communicate with the techs and be at the center to receive supplies and equipment. Lexington reps have been referred to as the "policemen" of PPS and thank goodness for them. Field reps are influenced by PCCs who aren't above doing whatever they have to do to get their numbers while Lexington reps will insist upon things being done the right way, the ethical, moral and legal way. The farther you can distance the sales reps from the operations reps, the better so any thought of closing Lexington had best be scrapped as it is the centers that should be restructured. And Senior Management, if you want some evidence to support what's been said here, just ask for it as Lexington has a long list of accounts that would surely open your eyes and hopefully lead to some changes.

 

so why is it that the upper management think the Lexington crew is just a bunch of uneducated hillbillies? Why wasn't that pharmacy supervisor reprimand or even fired for putting something like that on social media? Personally I feel like she is power hungry and insecure in her job and tries to make those around her feel inferior. She in my opinion and many others should be replaced by someone with a personality....

 

Look I realize you are attempting to justify jobs in Lexington. The fact of the matter is that the branches should have known what is and what is not required to get reimbursement from the government. Proper hiring and training would have cost a lot less than a new facility and employees in such a remote location even with the low cost labor of KY. The fact is that pps has been stealing from the government long before the Lexington office and has been stealing long after it opened. All of these operations managers, district managers, knew it and supported it. The company is rife with fraud, inexperienced management, and weak leadership. Its just a bunch of corporate ladder climbers trying to walk all over each other trying to maximize a paycheck. The whole Lexington experiment was much like the false bloated advertised number of locations pps lied about. I see now that they have finally come clean on their storage closets and are not calling them locations. Lexington is a expense that pps can no longer afford.

 

Well, it happened. Exactly what we were expecting. People lost their jobs yesterday. Some who have been with this company for many years got the boot. They have families they have to feed and now they only have 1 month to find a job. I hope you can live with yourself. One month is not enough time to find a job, especially in Kentucky. One of the core values in this company is integrity. That obviously was not practiced in this case. Every single one of you who had a part in this should be ashamed of yourself. But, honestly, I know you all don't care. One thing is for certain, if you all don't get better management then the company won't last long anyway. Lexington did most of the work anyway. Hope the new CSR's know what they are getting into. Half the centers never want to take their calls, they promise to call patients back and never do, deliveries are missed, etc. All I can say is good luck and peace out!

 

For whomever is calling Lexington Kentucky a remote location, you need a geography lesson. Kentucky is the word that has you assuming. Face it folks the end of those jobs are the result of poor management in your wonderful state of California, starting right at the very top on her throne. yes Jane Thomas is a power hungry malicious and dishonest person. She cares nothing about that company other than her paycheck and other perks. Pacific Pulmonary needs to remove its "core values" as now it's nothing more than a sick joke. Anyone with integrity doesn't lie to their employees, they say " hey we're in trouble, we need your help" instead they chose to lie to their supervisors on down the line. As for accountability, Jane Thomas needs to be held personally accountable for this entire fiasco.

 

Sorry to hear some have lost their jobs apparently. No doubt, the Lexington site taking the blame again for failures across the company. In a world full of technology that allows millions to tele-commute daily in a variety of businesses, Lexington was too remote to succeed? Only the most uneducated business person would argue that. 'Remote' is an excuse for someone that wants control. Nothing more. WHY they want control is another topic.

Keep your heads up Lexington folks!

 

Oh please with the Kntucky is not remote. What is the population og Lexington anyway without the college students? That is the only reason Kane opened it there was it was near some medical school. I have no idea what his rational for that was. For the good folks who lost your jobs. Yes CA is to blame but hey Mitch McConnell will help you all find low paying jobs a Wal Wart won't he? That guy has been great for the durable medical equipment business. i'll bet most of you checked him off on your ballot without knowing what he and is party have done to your jobs. Call me a idiot? Did you vote republican? Learn about George W's prescription drug bill and make sure to read about the aides writing up the competitive bidding componenet after the bill was voted on. Funny it was a republican congressman named Bill Thomas from California who was behind it all.

 

Lexington proper 295K, Bakersfield proper 347k....not all that different really. I'll let you do the comparisons about education levels, government dependence, illegal immigrant populations, drug abuse/crime and how business friendly each city is. And, no, that Lexington number does not include the apx 30k UK students for what it's worth. The problem is the people in CA think the world revolves around them, in everything they do. You think your hits doesn't stink and your arrogance pisses me off.

You want to turn this into a political argument? Really? Do you really think one side of the aisle in DC is better than the other? BOTH sides are corrupt and for you to think it's a one person or one party problem you are just showing your blinded lunacy. McConnell, Pelosi, Reid, Obama, Bush...all of them are the problem b/c they don't get along and practice partisan politics where the other side is wrong, no matter what the stance. For you to think this is a one sided problem only shows your ignorance.

You think it was RIGHT for DME companies to continue charging medicare each month LONG after the original investment price of a concentrator had been recouped? (of course that is the 60-month cap policy, not Competitive bidding) As a taxpayer, I applaude competitive bidding and the cap process b/c it's looking out for my tax money. Frankly, we need more of that in our govt. All of the old PPS pals took advantage and built a business when the picking was ripe. Good for them! It was legal to continue charging for concentrators 10X over and they made alot of money from that. Kudos to them but we shouldn't expect our govt to pay for something continuously without question or revision of process. If you were paying for a concentrator each month with your own money, wouldn't you begin to question how much you have paid at some point? For you to think the govt is no right to introduce competitiveness into the marketplace only shows your socialist nature of thinking.

There are plenty of DME companies still making it work, albeit on smaller margins. Patients are not suffering from this so let's not use them as a pawn in this argument. Bako will not be any more successful than Lex unless the PPE field personnel buy into the process and begin to do the right thing. You ship is sinking PPS, the rats are seeking higher ground. Onwards!

 

This statement by you exhibits your total lack of knowledge pertaining to the industry. " You think it was RIGHT for DME companies to continue charging medicare each month LONG after the original investment price of a concentrator had been recouped? (of course that is the 60-month cap policy " I'll answer it now. Yes I do because it is not just the item that pps paid for long in advance of any reimbursement but the continual service required to maintain the equipment and monitor the patient. Not to mention the added cost of portable oxygen delivered long after the cap, power failures and regular deliveries. Now I am really happy that pps cut you loose. You have zero awareness of what it costs to provide the service for which you seem to think you are a expert.

 

This statement by you exhibits your total lack of knowledge pertaining to the industry. " You think it was RIGHT for DME companies to continue charging medicare each month LONG after the original investment price of a concentrator had been recouped? (of course that is the 60-month cap policy " I'll answer it now. Yes I do because it is not just the item that pps paid for long in advance of any reimbursement but the continual service required to maintain the equipment and monitor the patient. Not to mention the added cost of portable oxygen delivered long after the cap, power failures and regular deliveries. Now I am really happy that pps cut you loose. You have zero awareness of what it costs to provide the service for which you seem to think you are a expert.