PurposeMed Reviews

3.7

65% would recommend to a friend

(41 total reviews)

Dr. Husein Moloo

85% approve of CEO

67% positive business outlook

PurposeMed has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 41 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The PurposeMed employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Healthcare industry (3.4 stars).

Reviews by job title

41 reviews
1.0
23 Sept 2023

Disorganized, disillusioned, and exploitative.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

I met a lot of incredibly beautiful people working at PurposeMed. The mission captivates deeply empathetic, committed, accepting individuals and it was truly a blessing to work alongside such benevolent souls. While there are many downsides to having worked there and not everyone embodies the characteristics previously cited, the only reason I feel I lasted as long as I did at this company is because of my own dedication to serving marginalized communities in accordance with the connections I made with various people in the organization. In fairness, the benefits were above average compared to other companies I've worked for too.

Cons

The biggest drawback to working here is how disheartening it is to learn that the company does not align their actions with their mission. Instead of increasing access to care for marginalized communities, the decisions they have made are fuelled by capitalist intentions, effectively preying upon communities that have nowhere else to go. As far as I am aware, Freddie is the only PurposeMed subsidiary that still does not financially exploit their target audience. However, they have maintained the position that their marketing for the virtual HIV prevention clinic stick solely to a specific part of the LGBTQ+ community, despite receiving criticism internally and externally about the harm done to the gbMSM community when marketing efforts strictly hypersexualize gay/bisexual men. In addition to this, the lack of femme representation in their marketing suggests that women are not at risk of contracting HIV, despite statistics showing rates of contraction increasing among this population and decreasing in the gbMSM population. The way they market Freddie emphasizes the pre-existing stereotype that HIV is a "gay man's disease," and deters other at-risk populations from getting tested and exploring preventative measures. This could, at worst, be perceived and felt as a homophobic, misogynistic approach. When it comes to the other brands under the PurposeMed umbrella, Frida attempts to increase access to adult ADHD care. In consulting with a psychiatrist, the method of assessment for ADHD used by Frida is reductionist and fails to adequately screen patients for complex comorbidities (OCD, BPD, bipolar type 1/2, etc). While they do screen for anxiety and depression, this is insufficient when prescribing controlled stimulants for patients they will never see in person. Additionally, they possess no mechanism for proving that the individual filling out the screening questionnaires is actually the person getting the assessment and/or receiving treatment. Access to these medications is already difficult for people with ADHD and these practices only serve to further harm this community's ability to access the treatment they need. What they are doing may be legal, but the approach is certainly not ethical and there is no way to know you are supporting this system until you are employed here and engage with the practices yourself. On top of this, they are gouging their patients for subpar assessments and follow-ups. This is a community of people who struggle financially, more than the neurotypical population - if PurposeMed's mission was not to "increase access for the underserved," this would be less of an issue, but the key takeaway here is that this is a company that you'd think you'd be supporting their benevolent mission by working for, only to learn this is distinctly not the case.

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PurposeMed Response
2y
It’s always deflating to hear that a team member had a negative experience after they’ve left, but we do still appreciate being able to hear how we can reflect on any areas to improve. Thank you for confirming what we know about our wonderfully caring team, and we’re glad you were able to forge some meaningful connections during your time here. I think the most disheartening comment is that you feel we don’t align with our mission and values, when they’re driving everything we build and do for our patients. I feel like we have to address some of your comments specifically about our approach to care for our verticals, as the health and safety of our patients is always our top priority. Regarding your comments about Freddie, we have very intentional reasons behind the way we position the brand. While it may be true on a national level that the proportion of infections among gbMSM (or 2SGBTQ+) is decreasing and is increasing among heterosexual persons (mostly via injection drugs), HIV acquisition is still very much over-represented by 2SGBTQ+ sexual exposure (~5% of the population accounting for 43% of all new infections) There is published academic literature about health-related marketing and intervention which clearly supports the fact that targeted or community-specific marketing is more impactful than total population or blanket campaigns that don’t resonate with any specific person or community. The perceived sexualization of certain Freddie markets speaks to the mechanism or way that HIV spreads from person to person and is specifically designed to normalize human sexuality. If someone is not or seldomly sexually active, the chance for HIV transmission is naturally lower. This does not mean it doesn’t or can’t exist from other methods of transmission or from a single instance, but efforts are best directed at preventing those with the highest chances of acquiring HIV. Statistics themselves are not stigmatizing, homophobic, or misogynistic, but unfortunately, the interpretation of them can be. With Frida, we have thoroughly consulted with top ADHD experts across Canada to develop our care and prescribing model and are confident in our approach with patients. We do not stigmatize highly effective medications and face-to-face interactions are not required to diagnose or provide these medications to patients who are in need of assistance—we have very strict controls in place to ensure medications are legitimately prescribed. We use Stripe for ID verification and ask patients to verify cell phone numbers, we gain access to collateral when necessary for diagnosis or in instances when it is required related to physical and mental health concerns being present, and dispensing pharmacies will also verify the identity of the person receiving the medications with Frida (as with all PurposeMed prescriptions) for additional reassurance that the name/ID of the patient assessed matches that of the person taking the medications. Additionally, we have processes in place to limit the quantity of medication that patients will be offered that matches the duration of the prescription provided. We’re rigorous in our assessments and in the follow-ups that we offer patients with highly skilled and trained regulated health professionals. Our Customer Satisfaction score (CSAT) averages 97%+ across our brands, indicating to us that our patients are exceptionally happy with the service and care they’re receiving (alongside the countless comments we get directly each month from patients about how our services have been life-changing for them). As we’ve mentioned in other reviews, we welcome all clinical candidates to inquire directly about any of our clinical practice standards and our company's mission-driven mindset. We have nothing to hide about the way we’re operating! At the end of the day, we are also a business that needs to earn revenue in order to operate and expand to serve more patients, and there are so many considerations that go into the way we charge our patients. Our goal is to be able to offer the highest quality of service and care at the lowest possible price to our patients to remain sustainable. We are truly sorry this is how you felt moving on from PurposeMed and recognize that none of this invalidates the feeling of personal disappointment you have. However, it’s our hope that the rest of our team believes deeply in what we are striving to do for our patient communities, and that they are able to surface any feedback or ideas they have to our leadership team so we can work together to grow and reach thousands more patients who need access to the empathetic and affirming care we provide. If there are any further concerns you want to speak with us directly about, please don't hesitate to reach out to the People team.
2.0
28 Sept 2023

Mixed bag

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great junior colleagues, remote working, decent benefits. Clinical staff are passionate and skilled.

Cons

Constant layoffs put people on edge. Most employees have little to no experience in healthcare, which is worrying. Profit is the focus. Lack of diverse hiring. Feels like a tech company that decided to do healthcare, not a healthcare company using tech. Be wary of 5 star reviews from current employees that appear right after bad ones.

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PurposeMed Response
2y
We hope that a number of the changes we've been making over the past few months to create clearer a structure and expectations within teams have made you feel a bit more supported—as you can read through many of our other responses, we aim to put our patients' needs and outcomes first and have a lot of checks in place to enable that. We hire only licensed and rigorously vetted clinicians who, as you mentioned, are very passionate and skilled in their areas of expertise. If you still have any questions about any of the concerns you've laid out here, please do come directly to the People team as we want to ensure you feel happy and aligned with the work you're doing.
1.0
16 Aug 2023

Constant layoffs and overworked employees.

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Company has a good mission.

Cons

You have no job security here. They do frequent layoffs in small groups quarter after quarter, so it doesn’t seem like they’re laying off a lot of people. This is arguably worse as it leaves everyone on edge wondering who’s next. They blame it on restructuring but that’s not the case. Teams across the organization are very understaffed and overworked. You will be given more work with no pay increase and expected to do it to “take one for the team”. The ones who take on more work seem to be the ones who get the praise. This could be a great company to work for down the road when they’re more financially stable but I’d avoid it for the time being if you value job security at all.

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PurposeMed Response
2y
We appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us. PurposeMed's mission is one we are equally proud of and has helped us grow faster than anyone could have anticipated in the past 3 years. As a result, changes and updates to our processes and the way we operate have been inevitable (as with any growing business). We do recognize this can be difficult to adapt to at times, but have an amazing team and have been actively trying to improve our products and workflows to help support everyone in their work. When we’ve had to make some operational changes that involved people, the decisions were never taken lightly, but again, we appreciate how taxing this can feel for the team. We’re confident that we’re going to continue moving forward sustainably as a business.
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Glassdoor has 43 PurposeMed reviews submitted anonymously by PurposeMed employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if PurposeMed is right for you.