need help with reality of taking a HHC rep position

[Anonymous]

Hi! Can you guys give me some advice? I am up for an interview for a HHC rep position. I am currently a district sales manager of independent representatives with a fortune 500 company, but not happy for several reasons (state of the business declining, bonus structure non-existent now etc). I want to get back into healthcare industry...is a home healthcare rep a good career choice?

Is there anything I need to be weary of when choosing whether I should move to a HHC rep position? Is it a friendly environment? Is it a fulfilling career? Are there outrageous plans or expectations? What is the average, realistic base salary? I assume reps have a decent budget, reimbursements, mileage/auto package, cell...

The company is a national company, but not a top known company like Gentiva for example.

I have my educational background in healthcare/science and a little experience in device sales as well as 5 years of experience in outside sales and marketing so I understand cold calling, section planning etc.

 

[Anonymous]

It honestly depends on the company, leadership, market, expectations and how you are incentivized. Gentiva that you mentioned is a great company with very good salaries and incentives, other companies may not be as competitive. Do your homework on the company you are interviewing with and, if at all possible, find former and current employees to talk to.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks. The company is Visiting Nurses Association (non-profit). I've heard a lot of crazy things on these message boards like no being able to get past gate keeper, all home hethcare agencies are the same so it's hard to get referrals, decision makers play favorites etc.

 

[Anonymous]

You can't throw a blanket over the job. It's heavily relationship based, that's true, but that is different in every market. Gatekeepers aren't a problem everywhere.

 

[Anonymous]

I am also considering a rep position w a HHC COMPANY.....national one of the best . Base salary in mid 60 s w bonus after last yrs attainment plus projected growth. In other words variable....depending on market. Good benefits too. Coming from world of big pharma and flex work schedule.....concerned that there will be many late and early work days. Territory includes SNF S LTC, and PC offices. Anyone know for sure if this is true about the work day and work-life balance. Also, concerned about office politics...not interested in office drama.

 

[Anonymous]

Alright everyone, here ya go:

The REAL DEAL on the HH World (from a former HH rep and RSM-yes, I was successful, but hated every minute of it, compared to pharma)

1) It IS the "used car" sales of healthcare. Honestly. If you are unemployed and about to become homeless, then, yes by all means take a HH job.

2) Do NOT expect to be treated well. Especially you ex-drug reps. It IS an entirely different game and different rules.

3) Most people do not last long. You WILL bust your ass to make quota no matter how good your people skills, looks, past accolades, personality, contacts, etc. are. Period.

4) Expect ZERO work/life balance. You will put miles on YOUR car for very little reimbursement. You will be given approx. $3-400/month allowance to feed your offices. Most offices will try to give you there "junk" referrals, not Medicare-but, you have to take them bc it's illegal not to. Your HH company wants ONLY Medicare referrals, as they are the only ones that actually pay and make the HH company rich.

5) All the company's ARE the same. No matter what bullshit someone tries to tell you. It's just not.

6) I got out because I absolutely hated it and it made me depressed knowing that I had a great pharma gig and had it made. But, with all the lay-offs, I took what I thought would be a comparable gig. It is NOTHING like pharma.

Please do not take a HH rep gig unless you are very hard up for a job. And, if you do, get ready to bust your ass for a fraction of your pay. Have fun with that monthly quota too that drives everyone into almost having a heart attack! NOT fun...not a good industry.

I hope this honest picture has helped somebody. Good luck!

 

[Anonymous]

Alright everyone, here ya go:

The REAL DEAL on the HH World (from a former HH rep and RSM-yes, I was successful, but hated every minute of it, compared to pharma)

1) It IS the "used car" sales of healthcare. Honestly. If you are unemployed and about to become homeless, then, yes by all means take a HH job.

2) Do NOT expect to be treated well. Especially you ex-drug reps. It IS an entirely different game and different rules.

3) Most people do not last long. You WILL bust your ass to make quota no matter how good your people skills, looks, past accolades, personality, contacts, etc. are. Period.

4) Expect ZERO work/life balance. You will put miles on YOUR car for very little reimbursement. You will be given approx. $3-400/month allowance to feed your offices. Most offices will try to give you there "junk" referrals, not Medicare-but, you have to take them bc it's illegal not to. Your HH company wants ONLY Medicare referrals, as they are the only ones that actually pay and make the HH company rich.

5) All the company's ARE the same. No matter what bullshit someone tries to tell you. It's just not.

6) I got out because I absolutely hated it and it made me depressed knowing that I had a great pharma gig and had it made. But, with all the lay-offs, I took what I thought would be a comparable gig. It is NOTHING like pharma.

Please do not take a HH rep gig unless you are very hard up for a job. And, if you do, get ready to bust your ass for a fraction of your pay. Have fun with that monthly quota too that drives everyone into almost having a heart attack! NOT fun...not a good industry.

I hope this honest picture has helped somebody. Good luck!

Pretty spot on assessment of home health sales.

 

[Anonymous]

Alright everyone, here ya go:

The REAL DEAL on the HH World (from a former HH rep and RSM-yes, I was successful, but hated every minute of it, compared to pharma)

1) It IS the "used car" sales of healthcare. Honestly. If you are unemployed and about to become homeless, then, yes by all means take a HH job.

2) Do NOT expect to be treated well. Especially you ex-drug reps. It IS an entirely different game and different rules.

3) Most people do not last long. You WILL bust your ass to make quota no matter how good your people skills, looks, past accolades, personality, contacts, etc. are. Period.

4) Expect ZERO work/life balance. You will put miles on YOUR car for very little reimbursement. You will be given approx. $3-400/month allowance to feed your offices. Most offices will try to give you there "junk" referrals, not Medicare-but, you have to take them bc it's illegal not to. Your HH company wants ONLY Medicare referrals, as they are the only ones that actually pay and make the HH company rich.

5) All the company's ARE the same. No matter what bullshit someone tries to tell you. It's just not.

6) I got out because I absolutely hated it and it made me depressed knowing that I had a great pharma gig and had it made. But, with all the lay-offs, I took what I thought would be a comparable gig. It is NOTHING like pharma.

Please do not take a HH rep gig unless you are very hard up for a job. And, if you do, get ready to bust your ass for a fraction of your pay. Have fun with that monthly quota too that drives everyone into almost having a heart attack! NOT fun...not a good industry.

I hope this honest picture has helped somebody. Good luck!

Did pharma for 10 years. Been in HH for 4 years. Great description. Accurate.

 

[Anonymous]

why is it that it seems like the reps to do a really good job, and get really good numbers seem to get weeded out because there are inevitably huge service issues with high numbers as well?it seems that no matter what home healthcare agency it is, bosses don't want to deal with any service issues.

 

[Anonymous]

Very common in this industry. It is a lot easier to put the blame on the sales rep vs the clinical staff. Nurses will get upset and leave for another hh care company. Operations realizes that and they can leave at a drop of a hat.

 

[Anonymous]

Here is one for you. Stopped by an ALF to speak with a DOW about our services. She appears upset and then proceeds to tells me they lodged a complaint regarding our agency several days ago to our clinical sup. No one let me know so we looked like total baffoon's. Sweep service issues under the rug.

 

[Anonymous]

Here is one for you. Stopped by an ALF to speak with a DOW about our services. She appears upset and then proceeds to tells me they lodged a complaint regarding our agency several days ago to our clinical sup. No one let me know so we looked like total baffoon's. Sweep service issues under the rug.

Sounds about par for the course! Don't you *know* it's YOUR job to ad lib on the fly to save the referral? JUST KIDDING! Only, your bosses aren't. Pathetic you have to go through this on a constant basis to put food on your table and roof over your head. Bless you...I really mean it. Been there, done that. At least you have the holidays to spread Christmas Cheer to keep you going! Best to you and everyone else in this pathetic industry!

 

[anonymous]

I totally agree with the above comments re HH care agencies. I spent 18 months building a territory and then without warning was fired the day I returned from vacation. Why? 2 reasons, production .... I presented a report that showed from jan 1 to march 15 less than half of my referrals were admitted for a number of reasons , none were within my control. But I expressed concern that my territory was not properly staffed and at least half of the non admits were due to that. Oops stepped on some bodies toes and after reading the above threads it's clear they were using available staff to open cases in more desirable areas for the available staff. The other reason is that a referral source complained about me stating that I was rude to a patient and was " not a very nice person". Really? Why would I do that? And she said I pressured her for referrals on patients who didn't even need services. Not true... But I was never given a chance to respond, they didn't care. It was a revolving position, the last rep stayed only one year. I spent 18 yrs prior in pharm, was highly successful, and can kick myself because I took this job instead of an offer at another pharma company, because I thought there would be more security for a couple yrs. hah! Stay away if you can.... Don't work w nurses, sorry I am one myself, but they re a ruff cut throat breed. If your a nice person, you won't be able to stomach the politics and childish antics which I witnessed every single day. In addition, the pressure to make weekly and monthly goals was nothing like I had ever experienced! The sales staff had to listen to our VP say...this is unacceptable, make it happen....raising her voice like we were her kids. And I was planning on leaving, was interviewing in pharma again, and someone may have overheard my phone conversation re an upcoming interview and wonder if that played into it. Doesn't matter, I decided to retire, stay home, spend time with grandkids and enjoy my blessed life.

 

[anonymous]

If you decide to take a job in HH and are good enough to stick around and bring a few referrals in and not get fired you'll likely have to see a shrink for some anxiety medication. It will cause serious mental and physical health problems and if you make it to 1 year in HH sales you'll probably have actually aged at least 10 years during that time. You won't sleep either. In fact, I'm up at 4 am writing this dreading the train wreck case that I have to go see at the hospital in a few hours. They're on 40 different medications that have to be crushed up and jammed through a feeding tube. Several others are pushed through a picc line in their arm and I almost forgot to mention that they are 500 lbs and completely bed bound with stage 4 pressure ulcers. None of the nursing homes in the area will accept the case. The case manger left it up to me to attempt to arrange everything for them to go home because she knows I'm johnny on the spot and will go above and beyond. Really she's just taking complete advantage of me. Can I trust my nursing staff to handle this case? psh...I'm actually just going to make it look like I tried to get them home in the eyes of the ugly wicked witch (case manager) and maybe dazzle her with the fact that I helped get the patient qualified under medicare guidelines for enteral feeding formula and supplies for home use and an extra large hospital bed. At least then she'll know I tried and won't be too mad when I tell her last minute that were not accepting their train wreck case that they're not getting paid to take care of anymore.

 

[anonymous]

Home Health Agencies don't care, or value their sales people at all. We are very easily replaceable. HH only cares about the medicare dollar. It doesn't matter which company you work for, they are all the same. Some are worse than others. Amedisys is by far the worst out there. All these companies offer the same things...you really don't have anything different to offer. It is relationship selling no matter what the big wigs of home health sales try to tell you. All companies preach consultative selling but not many referral sources listen. You are expected to do lunches and spend money...but you get a pitiful budget to it with.