The story begins with:
Alabama Medicaid
They have the money for my patient's care. They give it to:
Alabama Department of Senior Services
They decide what services I will provide to my patient & which fiscal agent will handle my payroll. They then hand that info to:
Area Agency on Aging of West Alabama
The case managers. They're the link between me & the fiscal agency ADSS chooses. If I run into a problem, I contact them. They then talk to:
Acumen Fiscal Agent
The final boss. They take the money from ADSS & cut the checks. They took over my payroll in December of 2023. I have not received a correct, on-time paycheck since. I have correctly recorded my hours worked, I have turned in my time when & how they've directed me to, I have done all the stuff & things. It matters not. I've not been paid, as of today, for the last 131 hours worked.
All further updates on this clusterfuck will be posted to this thread & the GFM. I plan to discuss contacting the ACLU & Southern Poverty Law Center with my patient's fam next week. Fingers crossed that third-party inquiries spur some kind of action.
#HomeHealth #Healthcare #AcumenFiscalAgent #MutualAid #MutualAidRequest #GondorCallsForAid
My patient's mom had a long chat with the social worker yesterday, who promised that everything should be fixed very berry soon & truly, everyone is working sososo hard on it.
Everyone involved agrees that I worked the hours. Everyone agrees that I haven't been paid. But for some reason, no one will SIMPLY CUT A FUCKING CHECK. And no one will tell me why that isn't happening.
I found e-mail addresses for Acumen's CEO, COO, CFO, and CIO.
I have reached out to let them know that I am suuuuuper easy to get rid of. If you don't want further contact, the only thing in the whole world you have to do is pay me.
IT WORKED.
Sent the e-mail at 1:40 pm & by 4:00, all my missing hours were approved & a direct deposit was initiated! I'm still holding my breath a bit as the funds haven't appeared in my checking account yet, but WE GOT MOVEMENT.
The direct deposit is pending in my bank account. I refuse to relax entirely until that sumbitch is POSTED.
Patient's mom & I both received apologetic phone calls from someone in middle management. "omg, this should never have happened or gone on so long, we're so sorry, here's the magic word to get you past the defensive line," etc.
Alabama Department of Senior Services called, wanting to know what we'd done bc suddenly shit was fixed. I told them I e-mailed the big dogs. They asked how the HELL I'd done that, bc THEY don't have those addresses.
I told them Google is free.
They were not amused.
Acumen left my patient's mom a voicemail asking her to call them about "concerns" they have about my time entries.
Y'all, I can't. I can't do it again. I told patient's mom that if whatever their issue is can't be handled in one phone call tomorrow, we have to drop out of the Personal Choices program & go back to a trad home health agency. I'll take a pay cut, but I don't care. I'll chew my own arm off if that's what it takes to get out of this.
Whatever issue Acumen was calling about has apparently been dropped. We tried to call them back, but the hold time was over an hour. We e-mailed them, asking for someone *who is already familar with the history* to e-mail us with any concerns. (We're done with phone calls. We want a written record.)
Haven't heard from them all week.
IOW you should be promoted, because you are the one who got things done.
So pleased for you, damn, that was a long time without pay you'd earned.
On the upside, I have now internalized *on a molecular level* the importance of increasing the amount of my emergency savings. I'll be damned if I'm caught out again. 😁
I totally get that. I am afraid I saved money like a fiend and didn't do as much as I would have liked the past decade or so.
OTOH the drywall molds in most of those places might have killed me, so my caution may mean a last 1/3 of life in a good place. Plus, my savings have built.
But in such a weird market as now, boy, I had a good sized pad and I don't know if I could hve made it thru the pandemic if I hadn't been semi-retired. :(
Farrell
Kat Kimbriel
Dr Camilla Hoel