Pros
Salary and benefits were competitive
Cons
Oh so many! Lack of qualified staff, leadership support and understanding of key elements needed for success. I was hired as part of the original start up team for new business entering the Medicaid market. Any new business start up is challenging and it is critical to hire the right staff with the skills, talents and abilities needed to be successful. Instead of being able to hire clinicians and associates who could meet this challenge, my entire staff was hired by HR without any input from the leadership team for whom they would work. Not one had previous managed care experience nor recent clinical experience. When I asked to review resumes or interview candidates I was told that it was not my job and it was company policy to be handled by HR! I had never heard of anything so ludicrous in my 20+ years of leadership experience! Plus upon hire, these employees were all promised a transition from office setting to a work from home transition within 6 months to a year. This never happened and there was grumbling from day one. The political arena was disastrous from the start due to unreasonable contract requirements and lack of understanding of managed care practice by our counterparts at the State. Extensive reporting requirements that captured meaningless data was all but unattainable. A full time analyst to build and manage these reports was imperative. However, even though my budget included both an administrative assistant and an analyst, I was not allowed to fill these positions even though other departments and directors were. The volume of work included labor intensive algorithms from the dark ages that could have been streamlined for both quality and efficiency. It was very frustrating to identify issues that were causing chaos and not be allowed to implement a process improvement. My direct supervisor, while I'm sure had some positive attributes, lacked the understanding of process and simply chose not to hear about real time issues or resulting long term effects. Instead, he chose to look the other way until my predictions were validated. Instead of providing the support needed for success, it was easier (and self-serving) to throw others under the bus. Witnessing this type of behavior was the the last straw. I did have the pleasure of working with many positive and knowledgeable people across the organization however. Unfortunately, the culture proved to be toxic. I witnessed qualified individuals from throughout the company bid for other positions or exit to competing companies altogether to escape.