Remember how I said a few posts back I was still working for MHC and loving it?
Yeah, that's no longer the case.
This story actually starts in 2019. I found out that one of our doctors was retiring, and that another was leaving at the end of the year. Didn't seem like a big deal. But then I found out another doctor was leaving, and then a month or so later, another one. It was super weird. And then we got a company wide email that mentioned something about "if patients want to follow Dr. A or Dr. B to the hospital blah blah blah." And that was super super weird because in 2016, the hospital had closed its outpatient cardiac clinic, partnered with MHC to take over that service line, and we'd taken on most of their doctors and patients. I mean, that's literally the whole reason I got to keep my job at MHC when I moved. That email also said that no one was being laid off, but that no one who quit was being replaced. So . . . bad signs all around. I started to worry a little about my job security.
But we still had a handful of doctors, plus our mids and techs, and I had faith.
And then, in November, the last doctor standing AND his mid decided to go to the hospital as well. This meant that, essentially, by March of 2020, we'd have only one cardiologist, a sleep doctor, and a handful of mids as far as providers go. At that point I alternated a lot between being absolutely convinced I'd be losing my job around my birthday, and being sure that since I was a very senior member of billing, plus a remote (and lower cost) employee, I'd be fine and manage to stay on through the craziness.
I was actually wrong on both counts! On December 30th (a Monday, my first day back after Christmas vacation), I got a call from my boss, letting me know that massive cuts were being made and I was being laid off. I was LITERALLY the first person to be let go. Which felt just great. The entire department except for the manager and the other coder got fired. So did most of auth., and I'm assuming a good chunk of records/front desk types. It was a terrible, terrible way to end the year. I can't really say it was out of nowhere, but based on when each provider was leaving and how much outstanding stuff they had out there, I really didn't think it would happen that fast. But it was . . . abrupt. I think it's because I wasn't in the office. I didn't get to say goodbye to anyone, or like . . . have any kind of option of coming back if I had to. It was pretty much you're fired, log off, and my access was terminated by the following morning. Just like that, after 7 years . . . over. It was surreal. I just felt very lost. Not just because I had to find another job after so long, but because I knew I was going to have to transition back into working outside of the house. That was daunting. (It worked out, though, and I got a new job pretty quick, and I like it, and Jerbs also got a new job in the process, but more on that later).
Really the big takeaway from the story is this: the hospital absolutely, 100% fucked MHC over. Apparently what the hospital meant when they said they wanted to contract with us for 10 years, what they actually meant was that they wanted to watch how MHC ran things for 3.5 years to learn how to do it correctly, then steal their doctors back, reopen their clinic, and tell MHC to fuck off. They had to pay a LOT of money to do it, between the penalties in our contract and buying out some of the doctors' contracts. It's fucking garbage. On top of that, MHC's medical director and founder (who literally started MHC because he saw how awful the hospital was with outpatient cardiology and was sick of it) opted to retire instead of going to work for the hospital. Really, that was the best option for him, but it sucks for the community to lose such a great cardiologist.
As of April 17th, MHC as a clinic closed and was bought by the hospital, so essentially they fucked us and then bought our building so that the can expand into it. The official story is that our medical director approached them about a sale because he was ready to retire . . . which is total bullshit.
As sad as I am about MHC closing and losing my job and everything, I'm more pissed about what the hospital did to us. It's just so epically shitty. And this was probably the hospital's end goal the whole effing time, and that's really infuriating too. It's sad because MHC's founder's goal was to eventually take over the outpatient line for the hospital, and it was such a huge deal that he finally accomplished it. And it ended in bullshit. (Although, interestingly, I heard through rumors as all this was going down, that over the years after MHC opened, it was the first CEO who was reluctant to make a deal with the hospital. The whole deal picked up steam after he left a few years back. So I kind of wonder if he had a feeling that something like this would happen. It doesn't really matter, but I am curious).
So that's that. I'm still sad. But like I said, I have a new job, in Olympia, and I really like it, and I'm making like $5/hour more than I was at MHC, and I think being out of the house is good for me right now. Well, not RIGHT now, because I'm currently working from home again because of the Covid19 pandemic. I'm extremely grateful for MHC because it really came along RIGHT when I needed it, and it led to so many good things. It increased my confidence, taught me a LOT of valuable skills, led to me getting a professional certification . . . all of those things were necessary to get the job I have now. Plus I wouldn't have Max if it wasn't for MHC, because I got him from a co-worker, and I love that little sausage dog more than I can say.
It really feels like the end of an era, the end of something really big and important and meaningful, and that sucks. But at the same time, I am SO happy for this next chapter, whatever it brings!
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