Central California Alliance for Health Reviews

Thank you for taking the time to leave feedback for the Alliance on Glassdoor. It’s disheartening to read your review of the Alliance, especially in consideration of the mission of the organization. Our talented team of nearly 500 employees makes a positive impact on the lives of our 340,000 members every day by providing accessible and quality health care. However, I want you to know that I hear you loud and clear as you state your feelings. Changes in leadership can be hard, yet remember that our new CEO rose through the ranks at the Alliance, starting as a temporary employee in Health Services. She has served as a staff member, our Provider Services Director, Compliance Director, Chief Operating Officer, and now Chief Executive Officer. She knows the workings of the company and is committed to our members and our staff, and we’re all working toward the common goal of alignment in our efforts as we deliver quality services to our members. I encourage you to take a moment to come and talk with me about how you’re feeling and why you’re feeling this way. Regarding staff separations, while an employer should never go into confidential and private details regarding how or why an employee is separated from the company, I can assure you, unequivocally, that an employee not meeting performance expectations is provided with feedback and given opportunities to improve. No separation of a staff member is taken lightly, and every effort is taken to manage these issues honestly, directly, and respectfully. In those situations where an employee is separated from the company, we feel it’s most respectful for all involved to pack the employee’s personal belongings after hours and then make arrangements for their delivery. It’s undoubtedly awkward for the departing employee and for staff in surrounding work spaces in those types of situations. Again, we attempt to address these matters respectfully for all involved (and gathering belongings after hours is actually a common practice among employers). I’m concerned about your comments related to harassment. If you have reported a concern and you feel it isn’t being addressed, I encourage you to use our confidential disclosure hotline. Information on using this service is provided on the Compliance Department intranet page. Again, I also encourage you to come and chat with me about your thoughts and feelings regarding the Alliance. Staff perceptions and comments are important, and I’m interested in exploring this with you further.

Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences at the Alliance. While I fully respect your interpretation of your time here, your feedback is at odds with the experience most Alliance staff report. Given that you expressed multiple concerns, I am providing thorough and fact-based responses to several points raised in your post in the hopes of bringing clarity to items that are of significant importance to the Alliance. As mentioned, our founding CEO retired in February of 2018 after over two decades of dedicated leadership. Our new CEO is an experienced health care professional with over thirteen years of Alliance experience. She was a staff member, department director, and our COO. She understands our organization and its culture, but change within an organization is inevitable with a new CEO. As you know, the health care and regulatory environments have become increasingly complex. For example, state audits used to occur every four to five years, but now they occur on an annual basis. In addition, with the implementation of the ACA, our membership has grown by more than 100,000 lives. In fact, we now provide health insurance to one in three residents throughout our service area, and we are responsible for serving as good stewards of a $1.2 billion publicly financed annual budget. All of these issues, among others, require that we be mindful of our responsibilities and approach them in an aligned, organized and outcome-driven manner. Regarding HR, collectively this team brings decades of varied HR experience to the Alliance, and several team members are professionally certified in the field. I regularly receive compliments on the services and support they provide. As I am the overseeing Chief for this department, I encourage you to share any specific feedback you may have with me directly. We continuously look for ways to improve. Indeed, our medical costs are higher than projected. This is due to higher than anticipated utilization by our members. It should be noted that these trends impacting our organization are also present in other health care organizations across California, and nationally as well. Fortunately, due to smart financial planning and saving, we are well reserved and can absorb those costs. Note that the Alliance is currently below budget on admin expenses. The Alliance creates innovative health care solutions. One example includes developing a post-discharge meal delivery service, which provides enhanced support to our members with complex medical needs. We are also an award-winning health plan, recognized most recently as one of the top five performing Medi-Cal health plans for overall quality in the state. Since 2015, our grant program has awarded $80.6 million to community organizations. We play a role in ensuring quality health care for the nearly 340,000 people who rely on our services every day. Perhaps readers will interpret these data points as reflections of an organization having great community impact as compared to one that is steadily going downhill. The comments about clocking in and out and working from home are perplexing. Recording hours worked isn’t uncommon and we have a very robust work/life balance program. We offer flexible scheduling and telecommuting, so yes, it is common to see staff at all levels coming in late, leaving early (based on their schedule) and working from home. We did make changes to our employee health and wellness program last year. At the same time, we also expanded onsite fitness opportunities by adding full-scale fitness centers in our Salinas and Merced office locations. We now have fitness centers with free weights and cardio equipment in all three Alliance office locations. Your comment about someone being pushed aside for making suggestions is simply not true. Through a link on our Intranet homepage we actively encourage staff to make recommendations on how we can do our work better, and Chief team members regularly hold brown-bag lunches with staff. We actively support the development of leadership throughout our organization. We hold a quarterly leadership forum where management convenes to discuss relevant leadership and operational issues and we have a leadership training program. The Alliance has zero tolerance for retaliation. Any employee who believes they’re experiencing this should report it immediately to their departmental leadership, HR, or via our confidential disclosure hotline tool. We have always focused on providing a workplace that is respectful, diverse, professional and fun, and will continue to do so. Events and activities, such as our annual Halloween festivities and Cinco de Mayo celebration, peer-to-peer recognition program, and the annual food drive and United Way employee giving campaigns are just a few of the aspects of our environment that contribute to a unique and rewarding overall experience.

At the Alliance we believe that feedback is important. We regularly invite staff through multiple channels to leave comments about their experiences at this organization here on Glassdoor so that we can learn, reflect and adjust as needed. Unfortunately, on occasion, the Alliance is placed in the position of needing to respond to a review that includes misleading and/or inaccurate details. It needs to be clarified that the Alliance Human Resources leadership team has a significantly different recollection of this former employee’s overall experience at our organization, including their final weeks and final day of employment. The original and unedited Alliance reply to this former employee’s initial review from February 21, 2019 (which Glassdoor automatically removed when this reviewer updated their first comments) is provided below for the benefit of those reading this review. ---------------------------------- Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback on Glassdoor. As a former HR staff member, you’re certainly aware that we take great pride in the benefits we provide to Alliance staff, and we dedicate a considerable amount of time and resources to ensure that our offerings are above industry standards. I’m happy to read that you enjoyed these options, but at the same time I’m perplexed as to your claim that the Alliance “cut a lot of programs.” This is simply not true. With the exception of changes to our employee health and wellness program (sun setting of the sonic striding program and fresh fruit in our break rooms), no employee benefit programs have been eliminated or modified, including our tuition assistance program. Further to this, we actually focused on expanding onsite fitness opportunities by adding full-scale fitness centers in our Salinas and Merced office locations. We now have fitness centers with free weights and cardio equipment in all three Alliance office locations. Additional staff benefit options include a generous PTO allotment that starts at 28 days per year and a robust employer contribution (not match, contribution) of 10% to employee 401A retirement plans. It’s very regrettable that you left the Alliance feeling less than satisfied. This is never something we like to read. It’s also unfortunate to read your understanding of your final day here. Current and former staff traditionally submit reviews on Glassdoor anonymously in order to ensure confidentiality. However, in this case, you’ve shared details in such a way that we can respond directly to some of your concerns. From the perspective of the Alliance, your resignation was accepted and a plan to transition your work and tasks was put into place. This transition was completed in advance of your final day, and therefore your manager let you know that you could leave a day early, with pay through the date of your notice. This offer was made as a courtesy to you in consideration of your personal situation (and for no other reason), which you accepted. As to your other comments, it’s important also to clarify that individualism, open dialogue and constructively challenging the status quo are very much embedded in the Alliance. We respect and celebrate how differences and diversity make us stronger as an organization. In fact, our value of culture is defined as striving for “a respectful, diverse and fun workplace.” Along with our core values of customer service, excellence, innovation, integrity, partnership and stewardship, this respect and openness drives who we are as an organization and how we interact with one another. Your comments contrast with the reality of who we are as an organization, as well as the broadly recognized and service-minded approach of the Human Resources team. Thanks again for leaving your comments. In closing, a personal thank you for your great work here at the Alliance, and I sincerely wish you the best.

Thanks for taking the time to post about your experiences at the Alliance and for your continued service to our members. As you know, we are a mission-driven organization, responsible for the health care of more than 340,000 people in Merced, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. The Alliance is staffed with professionals, such as yourself, who help create an environment that brings to life our values of culture, customer service, excellence, innovation, integrity, partnership and stewardship. I am glad to read that you are enjoying our popular employee benefits and programs, such as our generous Paid Time Off (which starts at 28 days per year), competitive salaries and our work/life balance initiative, which provides flexibility in work schedules, telecommuting options and a new parent part-time return-to-work program. We also take great pride in our facilities -- including fitness centers at our offices in Merced, Monterey and Santa Cruz -- and it’s great to hear you are enjoying these. Above all else, as you noted, the respect staff shows to one another on a day-to-day basis is invaluable. Regarding our health benefits, the Alliance is dedicated to ensuring our employees have quality health care options at a reasonable price. We offer HMO, PPO and HSA options for employees and their families – at a much lower cost to employees than many other organizations. If you have any questions about this benefit or would like additional guidance on these options, please reach out to Human Resources, and they will support you in this. Lastly, I want you to know that I hear you in your feelings that job opportunities are not made available in Merced County. Because of business need, the Alliance isn’t able to offer every employment/promotional opportunity in all three of our offices equally. Certain positions will just always need to be based at HQ. We actually have, however, been very intentional about basing positions in all three offices whenever possible. In recent three years, the following leadership positions have been added to your office in our Merced region: - Claims Supervisor – Claims Technicians - UM Manager – Prior Authorizations (RN) - UM Manager – Operations (RN) - UM Supervisor – Prior Authorizations (RN) - Care Management Supervisor (RN) - Facilities Manager - Analytics Supervisor – Business Analytics In addition, the following staff level roles have been added specifically to Merced: - Health Navigator - Quality Improvement Coordinator - Senior HR Representative - Health Informatics Analyst II The following positions, several of which were management level promotional opportunities, were posted for recruitment in all three office locations (Merced, Salinas and Scotts Valley): - Member Services Call Center Manager - Provider Quality and Network Development Manager - Grievance and Quality Manager - Quality and Performance Improvement Manager - Medical Director - Provider Communications and Education Specialist - Quality Improvement Program Advisor In closing, please note my personal invitation to you (and to every Alliance employee): If there is a position that is posted for recruitment that isn’t available to be filled in all three office locations, please contact me directly and I will gather further details as to why the position must be based in HQ. If there are opportunities for the role to be filled in any location, I will explore those in detail and we will make adjustments to the recruitment if and where possible. Thanks again for your continued service to the Alliance. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions.