Valera Health Reviews

The cons are many. During the interview process, they sold me on being a company that supports both clients and providers. This is not true. The providers are doing their best, but the company makes this hard! On a super administrative level, there are a ton of billing issues. Clients are getting slammed with giant bills even when they have insurance, and this of course impacts the therapeutic relationship. I actually think this breaks the Surprise Medical Bill law. I was told I needed to see 30 patients per week as I was onboarding. Then the number jumped up to 34 for an LMSW. That means that there is no set time to write notes, if we are forced to meet these numbers. Valera does not offer over time and notes are due 24 hours after the session. So that means that either you are forced to work for free after work hours, or your notes are subpar. Both of these options can negatively impact client care. I was told that there were learning opportunities, only to then be told that I have to attend these DURING LUNCH BREAKS. This is not legal in NY state. Additionally, to meet my numbers, I often see patients during the time these are scheduled. This is bonkers to me. Also, Valera is breaking NY sick time law by not allowing time to roll over and accrue outside of company PTO. Perhaps the most illustrative example of the shenanigans happening at this company is that Valera is actually comprised of TWO companies: Valera Health (the LLC, start up, "corporate") and Valera Medical (the provider side). Providers are pretty much exclusively hired by Valera Medical, only exceptions are supervisors or clinicians that also have some sort of corporate role. And let me tell you, Valera Health employees get treated VERY differently than Valera Medical employees. The corporate employees get laptops! Work from home stipends! More flexible hours (this relates to PTO, more on this later)! Valera Medical employees are therapists, therapy supervisors (for the most part), and prescribing providers. Clinical directors and coordinators move to Valera Health (corporate). There is a clear dichotomy here, basically anyone with power works for Valera Health. Providers are the bread and butter of "Valera Health", but have no power and work for, ostensibly, a shell company. Valera Medical employees have less benefits than Valera Health employees. It's wild that Valera Medical employees don't get work computers. We provide therapy under the Valera name on personal computers. Let's get to the clients. I love working with them and I genuinely enjoy what I do. However, I don't always feel adequately prepared to meet the needs of my high risk patients. It would be really great if those training opportunities were more accessible so that I could improve my skills as a clinician. It would also be great to receive a CEU stipend. For a mental health company, HR honestly does not seem to read their emails to gauge tone before hitting send. HR emails cause such stress at Valera and are honestly baffling. The way they send emails before we go into sessions without thinking about how it impacts our ability to be present with clients is irresponsible. This is why it would be beneficial to have staff meetings where everyone is present, so that we can get admin things out of the way without impacting care. Instead, HR sends blasts whenever they want. Recently we got an email reminding us that we need to give HR 30 days notice if we want to quit. Then they threatened to report us to the licensing board for patient abandonment if we left without 30 days notice. How is this the right approach?! Instead of trying to understand why people are leaving with short notice, why in the world did they send out this email? If this is such an issue that you feel the need to send out a company-wide blast, maybe look inward. Now, let's talk about pay. I am an LMSW. Initially I was offered $61k/year. I negotiated and was offered $63k because I can practice in multiple languages. After I started and met some colleagues, we talked about how much we were all making. Come to find out, my monolingual LMSWs colleagues are also making $63k/year. Another example of shenanigans, there is no sick leave policy, you have to use your PTO (20 days per year, prorated in your first year depending on when you start) if you are sick. Some colleagues have gotten COVID and been really sick. Valera Medical made some people use their PTO and then later instated a COVID leave policy (5 days, separate from PTO). Come to find out, it varies state by state and instead of thinking about what's best for the providers who DO THE JOB, Valera Medical is not giving COVID leave in states where it is not legally mandated. If you are not a provider and you get sick, Valera Health is a lot more flexible with your hours and willing to work with you so you don't have to take PTO. This does not apply for providers who work for Valera Medical. Oh, and if you get COVID, you get pressured to take a video call with someone from HR who tells you "it's just something we have to live with, I got it too" no matter how sick you are. The reviews you see here from anyone that is not a therapist or provider is from a corporate employee: HR, anonymous employees mentioning "flex time," managers for the most part, any type of director role, etc. Please keep that in mind when reading. I'm sure Valera Health is a better company to work for, but the overwhelming majority of Valera employees, the people who provide care, work for Valera Medical. Valera does not offer retirement, they said they hope to this year or next year, but so far we haven't heard anything.