Vitas

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I liked the people at Vitas Chicago. Never really met JP. Probably a good thing. The working conditions were horrible. I have never worked for any sales organization where the sales people had to work nearly every Holiday and were blamed for EVERYTHING that could go wrong at an account or with a client! That is total bullshit. I used to put in 10 to 15 hours a day and still could not keep up recording their must haves in CRM. Such a shit territory, shit software, shit record keeping and inconsistent patient care. I was not even considered for management. Quit and ended up somewhere else in management. I would never go back to Vitas. NEVER. More stress due to piss poor upper management. They throw shit on a wall and think it will stick. I do not think any of them have any idea what they were doing. If you are a DMD there, they will work you until you drop and they all do.
 


I second and third all previous comments on Vitas upper management in the IL region. This company used to be a fantastic place to work, and still is in other parts of the country. However, until the Mary K and Joe P. Team as well as the GM lose power, there is no future for Vitas in IL. It is a ticking time bomb, unwillingness to be competitive re palliative care and Ipu's etc. also ruin this program amongst all the previous named bs such as 3 hr call reporting, crm etc. Not sure why no one in Miami has figured out the problem with the census in IL is due to the region's senior management. At this point it is likely all will be out of a job soon if drastic measures are not taken and all senior mangement- GM and above removed.

I wouldn't let my dog work there if there was another choice. Although if you are unemployed, you can survive, albeit difficultly for about a year before you can't take it anymore. Turn over is high and the upper management let's fantastic employees walk. Previous upper management would fight to keep the great employees.

There are a few truly special people on the clinical side and some top reps, but NO ONE can make any positive changes with the Joe/Mary K & Michael team in place. Joe's membership in Vitas' good old boys club prevents any change. So if you have to take the job, know it is a short term stop, Vitas will not likely be sustainable much longer in IL, nor will you be able to put up with the bs for more than a year. Run if you can.
 


How does Mary Kay keep her job at Vitas? She has single handedly reduced the ADC of the Chicago region after having caused the closure of the Indianapolis, NW Indy and Michigan programs. I'm only here now until I find another job as I see no hope for this region until the MK and Heart Attack Poster Boy are fired.
 


Another top Quality employee Leaves the Chicago South Suburban office....and no one is asking why. When will the Corp office of Vitas wake up and identify the person(s) responsible for causing the loss of all these quality staff members? Do they ever hear the info provided in exit interviews?
 


This place is a joke. Run while you can. The Chicago region is not going to sustain the constant decline in census. Senior management have no clue what they're doing, communication is atrocious and reps are leaving left and right. Vitas in the Chicago region is the laughing stock of the industry. They are no longer a contender in this market place. It was once a good place to work but not anymore. I give it 6 months and everyone will be out of a job in Chicago!!! At this point adding palliative care won't really matter. But that's the vitas way in Chicago. Always missing the boat and by the time they make changes, it's too late. Always a step behind.
 


Let's add that they chased away one DMD who understood the business and is now killing it at a competitor and another DMD who they fired who is among the best in the industry and went back to pharma and more than doubled her compensation.
What a joke of a company. When the turnaround of employees is a revolving door there is no continuity and stability. You must look at the arrogant jokers running the place.
Fat ass JP more than likely does not have a degree. He refuses to share his credentials. MK is an empty head with no heart. And Michael is an arrogant f*g who also does not have a BS degree and thinks he knows everything about sales.
A recipe for disaster.
 


Why is Mary Kay still employed with Vitas? So the GM leaves and her job is spared? She has been a useless leader. She needs to go. No one in Chicago respects her or believes in her leadership. Ever since her promotion, the Chicago region has declined. No one seems to think she's part of the problem?? Nope, they just keep giving the sales people stupid routing plans and sales contests (that not many will get since they need to be at 100%) thinking that's going to grow the census ignoring that palliative care is needed. So let's have the reps fake calls on a bunch of dr's they can't see and whose office doesn't want to see them every week. Because that's going to be really productive... They're all a bunch of idiots.
 




Chicago NW is a going down!! Everyone needs to get out before it sinks. An amazing award winning tenured rep left early in the month and now some phenomenal admissions nurses are leaving. What is Lombard going to do? Get out people!!! This place is a joke.
 




Anonymous said:
I came from big pharma. The salary I receive at VITAS is about the same as my old Specialist job in pharma.

Differences for you

You have to pay over half of your benefits (medical)
Car allowance is $.43 per mile
commission is tough to achieve. goals are made so that only the best makes it to 100% payout, then they raise it the month after.

Physicians enjoy speaking to you.
Nurses love you for what you are doing.
No dinners
No big lunches, only a few small ones
no samples.
in charge of your own territory - including hospitals.
VITAS looks down on the sales force
Most Sales managers are displaced Pharma Manager
This is a Medical Sales Level position - if you are only a sample dropper or lunch delivery person, you will not make it in this sales organization.
Must be aggressive and a closer.
Computer program - salesforce
Strangers on the street will stop you if they see your nametag and thank you and tell you about what VITAS did for their loved one.

Take the position if you are primary care sales, this is considered HOspital sales. Just keep in mind - this isn't pharma, and should only be used as a stepping stone to further your career.
Click to expand...
 


This is a shit company. Small base and they do not fully reimburse for mileage. Huge medical deductibles. They don't compensate for experience. You will pay for a lot of things out of your pocket. Take a pass.
 




Wow. That is all I can say. I thought that it was just me, thinking those short little bastards ( Joe Priestas and Louis Kaufmann- although Louis has left), were all knowing, rude, self- righteous bastards! I came from a competitor Hospice and did very well,was offered and accepted the job. Out of the blue, I was told "Joe needed to interview me", which was strange since I was technically hired. Joe was arrogant, rude, never introduced himself, spoke (alot) about himself( narcissistic), and was interested in the archaic " 7 steps in a sale" rhetoric. Sadly, after I evidently " failed" his interview (most likely because I am 5'11), I was told I would not be starting( this was after I had training books, a PPD as well as completed background/ drug screen all done). But...I believe I " dodged a bullet"! VITAS will only be successful, when Joe leaves, period.
 


Anonymous said:
Came from pharma and work for VITAS. It is OK. I actually like my team and the job but I have a million other competitive hospice companies and all my hospitals have their own hospice. This is harder than selling snow to eskimos and, no, we do not have anything remarkable.

OK, the new software: HCRM is OK but what we are supposed to put in the system takes F O R E V E R, is useless and redundant. This is all courtesy of that fat asshole Joe P. That idiot is wondering why sales are down. I can tell you. We are spending three hours a day recording shit on our Ipads so he can read spreadsheets in his underwear, and another few hours trying to figure out who to see inside the ACOs. Here is the clincher: Get in to discuss our performance data with the execs and then what? Ask Joe how the fuck this results in a referral to hospice. The only time this will matter is when each facility has a preferred list and even then - they will just stick their own hospice on there. He's got us so off track we might as well be calling on the OR to sell hospice services.
Click to expand...
 






I have never posted on Cafe Pharma before, but this time I just had to. Work for this company if you only need a job for about 6 months, because that is as long as you will possibly be able to physically and mentally be able to handle it. Turnover is rampant in all departments, mostly sales though. I have worked in sales for a long time in many different industries. I have won president's club, MVP of the year multiple times, many contests, etc.. Vitas is by FAR the hardest company to sell for. If you get one of the "tough territories" you have no chance. And I mean that. Almost every hospital or doctor has a preferred company they refer to. Getting them to change that is near impossible, especially when they are part of an ACO that directs them to use a certain hospice, or their OWN hospice, or there is a palliative care contract. You have to know how to sell for real. This isn't fluff pharma, you need true selling skills. And your manager will ride you like seabiscuit if he sees you lacking.

You may get referrals here and there, but not enough to hit the monthly goals that are unreasonable and increase every quarter, and quite frankly management knows that. Management doesn't understand how to properly run a sales team. You will get micromanaged intro the ground. Sales meetings in the office every week, team sales calls EVERY SINGLE DAY first thing. You are forced to provide your full weeks worth of routing, meaning every call you will make that week and in what order, each Monday. You get forwarded pointless spreadsheet upon spreadsheet to review and act upon. Ride alongs every other week on the same day. 10-15 calls per day., face to face. You have to enter precall notes, call notes, and post call notes on every call. Takes FOREVER, takes up like a quarter of your day. You are not allowed to copy and paste the same notes, they want to see detailed call notes. No fluff. If you're a good sales rep you will make a lot of contacts, but with that requires correspondence, and all that correspondence adds up. You will be working at least 10 hours a day.

Other stuff, you get 22 days PTO. NO holidays, period. If you want a holiday off you need to use a PTO day, but you can only do that if someone else on the sale steam hasn't already done so. Pretty pointless though for sales, because most of your accounts are not even open on holidays. Oh, and if you take a day of PTO, you must make up the 10 calls per day you missed on another day. RIDICULOUS. Health benefits are terrible. Four a family plan at the low level, it will cost you $700 per month with a $5000 deductible. Essentially you pay all that money for a health plan you can't use. If the heavens align and you actually make a bonus, it will be taxed so that you only get like $600 more in your paycheck, and that's not if the quarterly BBL bonus doesn't negatively detract from that because you didn't make a F2F call on every contact in your terribly innacurate database. Database is waaay out of date, and you have to fix it, it will many hours of research and time. No car allowance, just 50 cents a mile.

HR is unorganized and understaffed. Don't expect any request to get done in any type of reasonable time. They put way too much responsibility on one HR person's shoulders to be able to do everything that needs to be done. They don't advertise, so none of the patients or families have heard of us, so they don't want to choose our services. Management doesn't care. They just want referrals. I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. It's a shame, I like the job for what it is, it's something I feel great about selling. But the company ruins all that. I hear it's better and more fulfilling at the other companies though.
 




I currently am a sales rep at VITAS and do agree with the info the above person mentioned. Pretty spot on. I love my job, so I don’t mind the 10 hour days on occasion- it is a wonderful company and the San Antonio, TX staff and managers are top notch. They make it worth it even if the hours are long. I’m a slight perfectionist so I research and enter all the long tedious stuff in. I am lucky I don’t have children or else I’m not sure if id be able to manage my time and job/career. I do LOVE working for VITAS. At the end of the day it’s worth it.
 



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