Correctional Medical Services Reviews

Pros

Pay is good, shifts flexible, overtime pay is good, staff is effecient, training for new positions needs improvement, computer skills, insurance is good.

Cons

Inmates call personnell names, you see very personal and ilicit behaviours, staffing can be competitive, dangerous environment.

Advice to Senior Management

Better training for new employees.

Pros

There was a decent variety of work, as well as some occasional travel (usually voluntary). People are generally very nice, but can be a little "clicky" in an office of ~400. Business casual environment with a pretty laid back atmosphere.

Cons

Evil company that couldn't care less about its people (although they fake it well). Lay-offs each of the nearly 10 years I worked there. Not once did they rehire people laid off in the fall back in the spring when they would hire replacements. These usually take place in September. I made the mistake of thinking I survived to live another year, only to get axed two days before Christmas (a few hours before we closed for the holiday, actually). They fired the VP of my department, then used his office to ****can another two dozen of us. I had no clue until I walked in to fix a problem for the VP who was already gone. They often let go of some of the best people (who were often paid for their talent), then those upstairs would get a health bonus.

Advice to Senior Management

Grab a clue and realize who is really making the company successful. So then some loyalty and quit being so greedy. I won't point fingers to specific people but they know who they are. Quit passing off cheap gifts as a "than you" and start rewarding people with a bonus check or a decent raise. No one wants a candy bar or a restricted movie ticket.

Pros

The Technology is decent. If you are lucky, your direct report might be a great person. My manager let me do my job and didn't micromanage. There are some good people in the company. My manager was very flexible on working hours.

Cons

Worst company I have ever worked for. Internal personal opinions instead of performance based. Unintelligent upper management (director level.) If you cross one of the "good ole boys" you can plan on being let go for any random reason; or simply "other" The good employees in the company are generally treated poorly and looking for ways out. Turnover is heavy.

Advice to Senior Management

It's unbelievable that this company is profitable at all. Let the experts (worker bees) do their jobs and count on them for purchasing opinions, and don't let management make hire/fire decisions based on personal opinions. I have nothing good to say about CMS and recommend only taking this if it is temporary.

Pros

The best reason to work there are the nurses that work along side of you. They have your back in a very stressful environment

Cons

The benefits are absolutely horrible. They are extremely expensive and don't cover much. No management support on anything. Very unprofessional in every way.

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to employees. Treat them with the professionalism the deserve. We are highly traind professionals. Treat us like it.

Pros

Captive audience, where else are they going to go? Lazy folks love it here, no one cares.

Cons

Not able to recruit decent help due to lowest pay scale in healthcare industry.Gets employees no one else will hire.

Advice to Senior Management

You are top heavy with no clue of what really goes on. No wage increases since 2006.

Pros

Sign on bonus with no contract to sign to get it, good pay, and five weeks of vacation starting day one!

Cons

Decent medical coverage, the college assistance is so-so, and the 401k is to laugh at, they match 50% up to 4% of your pay pre-tax and you are not fully vested for five full years!

Advice to Senior Management

Get organized, make decisions based on something that will make the place run better, not just becaue you are board and want to implement useless costly and timely ideas for no real reason other than you might get fired if you don't appear to have a function within the company (for management, not the nurses)

Pros

Hours and work load are reasonable. Very interesting population and clinical challenges. Mid level medical providers are adequately supported and encouraged to be independent. Interface with Department of Corrections is impressive given its complexity. General communication from senior management to frontline workers here in Michigan is earnest and prompt.

Cons

Very little face time with administration, but for some of us, this is a positive characteristic.

Advice to Senior Management

So far, so good.

Pros

The opportunity for independant practice as a mid level provider. Great collaborating collegues. Comfortable support from CMS administration as well as in interfaces with Michigan Department of Corrections. Can't ask for better support staff at the Ionia sight. Fascinating population to work with. Feeling great about serving underserved population.

Cons

Communication between administration and front line staff is frequently disjointed. CMS makes genuine attempts to stay in contact with it's medical providers but this is a daunting task given that employees are providing medical services to multiple prisons in multiple cities.

Advice to Senior Management

More frequent feedback for new employees. Some of us are fairly isolated from other CMS coworkers within a system of state employees. It's hard to get a guage on one's professional performance under these circumstances.

Pros

Retirement 401k can't be beat; If you want to succeed with this company, you can blindly follow their demands, to the detriment of your coworkers and become a supervisor. The actual work is rewarding.

Cons

Communication at the local level is nil; the price for the health insurance is prohibitive with less than expected coverage; As an employee, you are treated no better than an inanimate object; staffing is short on all shifts; ghost scheduling is used; Employee morale is down and NOT a cause of concern at any time for this company; and, Supervisors play favorites in raises, evaluations, shift assignments and time off assignments.

Advice to Senior Management

Play fair and according to the law! Everyone needs equal treatment. I have worked for this company for a very long time and have never met Dick Miles.

Pros

The PTO time that you are given is hard to beat, but given the fact that you are working in prisons and jails they need to compensate you some way.

Cons

Repeated turn over in administration and management. No clear job expectations and no follow through from management with problem employees.

Advice to Senior Management

Follow through at the site level with, there is no communication between the regional office and the sites. When a directive is given, we usually find out about it the day it is to be completed, making it an emergency to complete asap. There is no support at the sites dealing with corrective action issues and it seems that CMS would rather keep rotten employees in place because they fill a hole, than to replace them with productive staff members.