Don’t be fooled! Signify doesn’t care about their providers, the members or the Medicare Advantage companies that they contract with. The only thing this company excels at is empty promises in order to maximize their profits at all costs. It will be surprising if this company remains viable long term based on their current business practices.
Their scheduling process is very poorly executed. If you are lucky enough to be working in an area with available visits, they will schedule back to back exams every hour on the hour without regard to travel times between visits. In their written material to members, they promise them a 60 minute unrushed visit. This is far from the truth. In order to provide an accurate, thorough risk assessment on most of these members as Signify promises, a 50-60 minute minimum is necessary but is rarely provided. Practitioners are constantly rushed and run behind since it’s not uncommon to have 45+ minute commute times between members. This significantly limits time for visits. Additionally, there are frequent scheduling errors such as incorrect addresses, non-working phone numbers, omission of apartment numbers, etc. that occur on a daily basis.
The scheduling center is known to be relentless and untruthful to members in order to get people to agree to visits. Because of the high pressure tactics, some members will reluctantly agree to the visit to stop the calls but then voice frustration to the provider during the exam. Some will even cancel or not be home during their scheduled appointment. Most insurance companies that Signify contract with request additional testing to be completed on their members. Signify management has decided that no additional time should be allotted for testing such as FOBT, HgA1C, urine dips, bone density screening, vascular arterial studies or diabetic retinal exams despite the fact that these take up a considerable amount of time to complete in addition to the regular visit. As I stated previously, visits are scheduled back to back with no consideration of travel time between visits. Most of the time it is ethically impossible to complete 8-10 visits in 8-10 hours when travel time could realistically take over 3 hours during the course of a day. Signify is willfully blind to this problem. I truly wonder if the insurance companies that Signify claims to “represent” know of their poor practices.
If Signify does not have work in your area they will require you to drive extremely long distances that take up time that you will not be reimbursed for. Sometimes you will have to travel so far that overnight stays are required. Signify does not provide a travel incentive, a guaranteed minimum number of visits, or even a little reimbursement for meals when you are away from home. Signify refuses to reimburse for meals while traveling but they exercise the frat boy practice of purchasing beer for their centrally located employees, managers and executives at their quarterly company meetings. During these meetings, record profits are discussed while concerns from providers working in the field are ignored. I believe this clearly shows where Signify’s priorities are.
Do not expect your paycheck to be accurate. It is a constant battle trying to ensure you are reimbursed for the services you provided. Signify’s pay formula is confusing making it difficult for providers to accurately track what they are owed. The company requires the HRAs be submitted the same day yet they can never seem to reimburse their providers in a timely manner for the visits. It is not uncommon to be shorted hundreds of dollars each pay. If you decide to work for Signify, be sure to closely monitor not only your pay but your PTO hours and other items on your paycheck that often aren’t accurate.
Signify’s actions clearly show a total lack of respect for the providers working in the field. Unfortunately, they don’t understand the importance of providing a quality product and the value of retaining highly qualified providers who truly care about patients. Despite being very profitable, according to our CEO, Signify suddenly eliminated guaranteed salaries for their full-time employees and, instead went to a per-diem rate with only a month’s notice. In addition, they cut their reimbursement rate per visit from $100-$110 down to $80 per completed visit earlier this year. They also were very deceptive to their providers. Visits were promised so that the providers would remain at Signify. In many cases there was no work to be had. Don’t think you will get a penny from them if a patient cancels or isn’t home since there is no reimbursement for no-shows/cancellations. Signify is reimbursed large amounts of money from the Medicare Advantage insurance companies for these visits and as well as additional sums for ancillary services such as labs, vascular studies, retinal exams, etc. Surprisingly, they provide no additional time or reimbursement to the providers for these time consuming tasks. It is obvious they are not concerned with the quality or accuracy of assessments based on the unreasonable time frames they provide. It is clear that this company is driven solely by a profit motive with no regard for the quality of their services.
Do not believe their hiring ads when they say you can complete up to 50 visits a week with this company. I’m a seasoned, highly respected provider with many years of experience with HRAs. Believe me when I say that completing these amount of visits in one week is not possible, not with the travel times we experience, the additional testing they require and the complex members that are scheduled.
Interestingly, it is difficult to understand Signify’s policies and procedures. I have requested these multiple times with no coherent response. It seems that policy and procedure changes at the whim of management and without proper notification and education of the staff.
