Hold on people don't critique this poster just yet. Let's give him/ her THIER due. Let's figure out what they like about this job. This will tell us a couple of things. Manager? TM? Corporate? Sales people are talking about THIER experiences here with this company. So what is it that you like about this job. Please don't bore us with saving lives you didn't take this opportunity for this reason. You could have been a life guard at the local pool if that was the case. So tell us? How is the company structured to help your efforts. Please discuss a couple of key areas for prospective candidates. 1. Quota/ comp 2. Tech support 3. Account managers participation in the process 4. RMs cardiac experience 5. Reimbursement negative adjustments 6. Leasing for patients with no insurance 7. Clinical literature 8. EP acceptance 9. Upward mobility 10. Approval for PSR visits to resolve issues 10. Company removing vests from patients that call in and complain of it being uncomfortable/ not notifying sales to get involved. Add any other topics as you see fit so prospective employees get a good idea of the company. Hers your opportunity to get specific instead of calling people with valid issues complainers.
From a field perspective in hopes that the lies cannot be perpetuated forever:
1. Impossible to hit at some point. The line between quota increase and actual revenue will eventually diverge (~1 year) and you will be underwater and cannot recover.
2. A group of $10.00 people in Pittsburgh who's sole job is "to keep the people in the vest". This usually does not involve listening to the patient, sympathy, problem solving, etc..
3. Tech support will typically "handle" the problem without notifying the field.
4. In most cases ZERO! This makes the mandatory babysitting ride-a-longs VERY awkward! Envision a scenario; "RM" with no cardiac experience uses one of the concentric selling analogies (seat belt, luggage, etc...) with one of your top EP's that is driven by clinical trials...
5. This ties back to intake approving orders that will not be reimbursed by plans (ischemic cardiomyopathy, etc...). With commercial plans the criteria is thrown out the window and orders are approved without any supporting clinicals. The ONLY cases where intake toes the line is with Medicare. They do this because they don't want to lose reimbursement due to violating their agreement. Any other plan...ABLE TO DISPENSE regardless!
6. This one is simple - ask yourself "what is the benefit of a hospital leasing this device for a patient"??? Give up...there isn't one! - edit: I guess 1.3% of the time a life will be saved...
7. I'm going to lose the term "literature" and use clinical trials, in which case there are NONE! We sell off of other, non-LifeVest, randomized clinical trials and say "doctor if that then surely this"! The only "data" (used loosely) we have is retrospective data controlled by US (we are not the pinnacle of honesty if folks haven't already figured that out). Additionally, this data could be extremely biased, as selection of "sicker" patients could skew the results in our favor (i.e. no control group).
8. No one, including EP's, believes LifeVest is standard of care! It is not in any guidelines and is typically thought of as a niece product or one to utilized in desperate situations.
9. Upward mobility...what is this??? Also, if 75% of the field has been here less then 1 year, WHO do you promote???
10. Again, another thing controlled by $10 an hour employees in Pittsburgh who are instructed to resolve the situation. By resolve I mean ultimately keep the patient in the vest, but do it in the cheapest manner possible (i.e. last resort is sending someone to the patients house).
11. This is the only one where I will say the company tries, to a certain extent, to do. The tipping point for a patient is after 3 months. If the patient has been in the LifeVest for more then 3 months Tech Support is instructed to provide minimal support to them and not to spend any money on the (i.e. PSR visits) as it is no longer profitable.
I'd like to add one:
12. We have devices so old (~2004) in the field they require a landline to download. It is 2014 and many patients have abandon landlines in favor of cell phones. Response from corporate; "downloading is not an essential function of the LifeVest. The patient is still protected". This may technically be true, except when it's not. For example, when a patient is getting constant alarms and cannot download to trouble shoot. In this instance they could have an electrode flipped up, be operating in single lead mode, and be at risk for an inappropriate shock! Second situation, when an EP calls you and wants a download done. In this situation you cannot get a one without asking the patient to go find a landline to do a download...
