Denver Health and Hospital Authority Reviews

Pros

Benefit package is awesome!
We help the Denver community.
Meet new people and make new relationships.
Ability to learn and grow...opportunity to move up or into new fields.

Cons

Sick days are taken out of accumulated PTO.
Some of the patients we serve treat you like you are there to SERVE them, not help them.

Advice to Senior Management

I say, good work. Ever since Patti Gabow got Denver Health out from under the city, we have seen postivive revenue WHILE serving indigent communities. We are now the only hospital in Denver that has stayed true to the original mission while others have moved out of the County originally served.

Pros

The 401(a) and health insurance benefits are great and bascially costs employees very little out of pocket. The location of the workplace is also very convenient as it is minutes away from downtown and I-25.

Cons

Working with a collection of employees and managers that do not know what they are doing and how they are supposed to do things is one of the biggest issues in the IT department. There are a myriad of conflicts of interests in house which causes excessive work that can be otherwise be done without these forms of technology that Denver Health believes makes them one of the country's leaders in technology in the healthcare space. There is basically zero accountability from the employees and an exceptionally large collection of unintelligent employees in the IT department that just skate by and receive exceptional reviews and promotions based solely on tenure. Their philosophy is not to build the IT infrastructure to make it the best, it is to build it so that it is functional and thats it. There is an overdependence on a few employees that know what is going on and when these individuals take a day off projects and requests just stall. There have been countless times where on my day off my manager/supervisor kept blowing up my phone because there was an issue or request that he or the others on the team had no idea how to address.

Advice to Senior Management

My advice to management is that when the new CEO is appointed/hired that they should completely overhaul the senior menagement in the IT department, as there are way too many issues that need to be resolved in the judgement that these individuals make. Hopefully things will be fixed when this occurs to make the IT department reputible again. I would give it a zero rating but that option does not exist.

Pros

Help those who would not normally get health care

Cons

Stressful, Poor management, Spiteful, No opportunity for growth

Pros

Benefits, good cafeteria, some of the units are newer construction. It does seem like some clinical staff truly cares, but others still have that government mentality and only do what they have to in order to get by.

Cons

Parking is stressful - no valet parking service for patient families. No work life balance, flex work or telecommute for non-clinical staff. Left and came back a year later due to personal circumstances, and half the clinical staff had been turned over. 50% turnover in one year seems shocking, and these were solid clinicians. Unit now has low morale and leaders who try to do the best with what they've been given (which isn't much).

Advice to Senior Management

Why do you say you care about retention then do nothing to keep people? Strong patient satisfaction scores are a direct result of how you treat your employees.

Pros

Salary and benefits are good. I worked with a great group of people. The location was great for me and the hours were perfect.

Cons

Management training, from what I was made aware of, only consisted of how to complete managerial paperwork, with no training on management style, conflict resolution or dealing with employees, so how good you manager is depends on what they brought with them to the job. Employee evaluations were generic and not relevant to this job.

Advice to Senior Management

More substance to LEAN, not just lip service.

Pros

Knowing that the fruits of one's labor is benefiting the patients and the community that DH serves.

Cons

Extremely poor management from mid to senior. Poor communication between management and the
employees and as a result a lot of employee apathy exists due to the in-effectiveness of that management team. Management doesn't seem to value its employees.

I was managed through the use of head games, silent treatments and intimidation I don't feel that I was ever provided clear and consistant direction from management and was provided with little to no mentoring.

Advice to Senior Management

Value your employees and treat them with respect as they are the true assests of the facility.

Pros

The pay is good in comparision to other employers
The benefits are not bad

Cons

Management shows little professionalism and respect towards employees
High amount of micromanagement
If making a complaint about a supervisor the employee relations team does not follow through to mediate the complaint or help you work through it

Advice to Senior Management

Supervisors need more training in supervision skills, cultural competency

Pros

Knowing that your work helps others in the community.
The bar is low, so it's easy to make it to the top.
The benefits package is amazing.

Cons

There's something to be said about the level of trust in mid-level management since the part of hiring process is outsourced.
They want to change and to be more efficient, but there are too many people waiting to retire.
No support for personal career advancement.
They claim to be diverse in order to mirror the community they serve, but there is very little if any minority representation in senior management.
Too politically motivated internally and not focused on the overall success of the organization.

Advice to Senior Management

If you want positive change, continue supporting the new staff you hired and are hiring instead of relying on those holding on to their jobs, maintaining the status quo, and waiting to retire.

Pros

Challenging, depressing, rewarding, exhausting, lack of support

Cons

Nursing staff are taken for granted, Little to no voice in important matters. Standardize uniforms for all staff. Health care coverage it takes forever to get an appointment. You have to higher cost to go out side of Denver Health to get in to see a Doctor in a timely manner.(point of service)

Advice to Senior Management

Put in better break rooms with a place for quite time. Offer support after a patient dies. Possibly start a support for nurses.

Pros

Very busy systems. One of the busiest systems in the nation for paramedics which provides exceptional experience. Great support from command staff and peers are consistently good people for the most part.

Cons

Poor educational support with a very small tuition allowance.

As with most paramedic jobs the opportunity for professional/career advancement are few and far between. High degree of responsibility in urban EMS system but pay is poor when compared to other Fire-based agencies.

Advice to Senior Management

Increase pay to a wage competitive with Fire-based EMS. Provide more opportunities for professional development. Provide more educational and tuition support.